A massive fire that broke out at the Mohammadpur Krishi Market in Dhaka at around 3:40am on Thursday (14 September) has been brought under control.

It took the combined efforts of 17 Fire Service units, working in conjunction with personnel from RAB and BGB, approximately six hours to bring the flames under control by around 9:25am, confirmed fire service authorities.

The market had been flagged as risky by fire service authorities earlier this year.

"The fire service authorities received information about the fire at 3:43am. The first unit arrived on the spot at 3:52am. A total of 17 units of the fire service are working to bring the fire under control," Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters Warehouse Inspector (Media Cell) Md Anwarul Islam told The Business Standard.

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion and the Border Guard Bangladesh have also been deployed at the site to support rescue work and help bring the fire under control.

No casualties have been reported so far.

In April of this year, following the devastating fire at Bangabazar, authorities flagged 58 Dhaka markets, including the Mohammadpur Krishi  Market, as vulnerable to fire.

On 4 April, a devastating fire broke out at the Bangabazar that burned for more than three days and reduced the entire market to ashes. According to a Dhaka South City Corporation report, it burned over 3,800 shops and caused damages worth over Tk303.05 crore.

Within less than two weeks, on 16 April, another fire broke out at the capital's New Super Market ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr, which took some 27 hours to douse.

According to a Fire Service and Civil Defence report released Tuesday (12 September), 20 people were injured and eight killed in 1,667 fire incidents across the country in August this year. Of the total fire incidents, 128 occurred in Dhaka alone.