Fire fighters have recovered the bodies of two minors from a water-filled ditch near the scene of a fire that gutted at least five hundred shanties in a slum at the capital’s Mirpur.

The bodies of the children were recovered around 12.30pm on Thursday, said Abul Kalam Azad, station manager of Fire Service control room at Baridhara.

The deceased are yet to be identified.

The fire broke out at the slum at Mirpur-14’s Bhasantek in the early hours of Thursday (Feb 28).

“We were informed of the fire at 1:34 am and we reached there at 1:44 am,” said Fire Service Deputy Assistant Director Manikuzzaman

“As many 21 fire-fighting units worked for three hours to douse the flames. They tamed the fire around 8am,” he added.

One of the victims, Shahab Uddin, said, “I used to run a small scrap metal business. My house burned down with Tk 200,000 in cash.”

The slum dwellers said that around 50 people controlled the slum and the rent for each shanty was between Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000.

Another slum dweller, Akhter Hossain, said, “I own 25 shanties in the area and all of them have been burnt to ashes.”

The fire in the slum came merely eight days after the deadly Chawkbazar fire at Old Dhaka.