The fire that took place at Bangabazar Market in the capital early on Tuesday, has been brought under control after over six and a half hours of frantic efforts.

Brig Gen Md Main Uddin, director general (DG) of the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, has cited three obstacles to bring the fire under control.

These were uncontrollable onlookers, inadequate amount of water, and blow of strong wind.

Talking to reporters, he said the fire broke out at about 6:10am which brought under control at 12:36pm. Now the fire would not spread anymore.

The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence DG said as many as 48 units of fire service worked to bring the fire under control. However, it would take some more time to extinguish the fire completely. "We will have to look into whether there is fire or not going to every shop," he said.

However, the fire was seen spreading to neighboring buildings as a result of strong winds. Flames could still be observed in various locations.

Expressing regret for the delay in extinguishing the fire, Brig Gen Md Main Uddin said they had to face great difficulties for unruly onlookers. "How the Fire Service would work? How would we go inside? We are working for you, but you have created a lot of obstacles for us."

Mentioning the inadequate amount of water to extinguish the fire, he said the Army and Wasa brought water. On the other hand, wind was blowing strongly. Fire goes from one place to another place due to wind. Because of these reasons, dousing the fire was delayed.

Brig Gen Md Main Uddin said he had no information whether any common people was injured in the fire. However, he said eight fire-fighters were injured in the incident. Two of them were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute. Their condition was serious as they received multiple burn injuries.

Businessmen at the site that at least six markets at Bangabazar caught fire. Out of this, only Bangabazar Market has some 2,900 shops and about 1,50,000 people work there.