Online Desk  :   Two elderly women died reportedly due to suffocation from smoke in a fire that broke out in Moulvibazar Sadar upazila on Saturday night. The deceased were Sheikh Meherunnesa, 65, mother of former local union parishad Chairman Sheikh Rumel Ahmed, also a vice-president of the district unit Jaba League, and his paternal aunt Phulesa Begum, 60.  They were the esidents of Mostapur village in the upazila.

Jishu Talukdar, an officer of Moulvibazar Fire Service and Civil Defence, said informed this on Sunday. He said being informed around 3.30AM, they reached to the spot and found the two elderly women unconscious in a room due to the suffocation by smoke in the fire. He said they rescued them and took them to the Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital where the doctors declared them dead upon arrival. Rumel’s maternal uncle said the victims lived in the house and a security guard lived another room of the house. The guard saw flame at around 3AM on Sunday and called the neighbours for held. After being informed the firefighters reached to the scene and doused the inferno.

The fire is suspected to have originated from an electric short-circuit in one of the rooms of the duplex house, Talukdar added. Gazi Mahbubur Rahman, Officer-in-charge of the Moulvibazar police station, said that a special team has visited the place and investigating the incident. Besides local police administration and fire service team are also investigating the matter. He said no complaint has been filed in this regard.