Guests at a wooden resort on the Bay of Bengal were still asleep when fire tore through the building, and some of those who hid in the washrooms never came out.
Six of the 10 people killed in the blaze at Tuptup Resto and Resort at Inani, in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, on Saturday, Oct. 17, have been provisionally identified.
The six are Israt Jahan, 30, and Milita Mehezabin, 23, from Dhaka’s Banasree; Laila Jahan, 27, and Nafista Mim, 27, from Khilgaon; Fariha Kabir, 33, from Chuadanga; and 5-year-old Faizan Ahmed. The other four dead are two women, one child and one man.
DNA Tests Before Bodies Go Home
Authorities have not yet confirmed which body belongs to which victim. Local officials believe six of the dead were members of the same family. Ukhiya Police Station Officer-in-Charge Atikur Rahman Majumder said the bodies, held at the morgue of Cox’s Bazar District Sadar Hospital, will go to families once DNA tests confirm their identities. Subaktagin Mahmud Sohel, resident medical officer at Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, said the tests could take three to four weeks.
The fire started around 7 a.m., said Syed Mohammad Morshed Hossain, deputy assistant director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Cox’s Bazar district. About 18 tourists were staying at the resort in a district popular with domestic tourists, and they were asleep when the flames began, according to Saiful Islam, a volunteer who assisted at the scene.
“Some people had taken shelter in the washrooms to save their lives, but they died there,” Saiful Islam said. Toufiqul Islam Bhuiyan, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence’s Chattogram division, said rescuers found four of the dead inside two toilets on the resort’s second floor. Several people jumped from windows and balconies.
Strong sea winds pushed the flames through the wooden building, Bhuiyan said. The Cox’s Bazar Fire Service received the alert at 7:23 a.m., firefighters reached the scene around 8 a.m. and brought the fire under control at 8:15 a.m., the Fire Service said. Crews fully doused it at around 11 a.m. Local residents joined the rescue and firefighting with support from police, the Bangladesh Border Guard and the Bangladesh Coast Guard. Hossain put the number of injured at four; another count had six injured hospitalized.
A Resort With No Fire License
Bhuiyan said the resort had none of the equipment required of it — portable fire extinguishers, fire alarms, hosepipes and a fire safety plan. It also lacked a fire safety license. Builders had put it up only seven or eight months earlier, Bhuiyan said, and he said there was reportedly a dispute over ownership of the land. Fire officials inspected the site in June and warned about fire risks, but the resort kept operating without the required license. The Department of Environment served a notice earlier this year and assessed Tk 100,000 in compensation.
Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner A Mannan said the fire was initially believed to have started at the kitchen stove, though that could not be confirmed. A five-member committee is working to determine the cause. Tasnim Jahan, the additional deputy magistrate leading the probe, said the resort lacked approvals from the Fire Service, the Department of Environment and other authorities and had ignored a final notice. Cox’s Bazar Superintendent of Police ANM Sajedur Rahman said no definitive statement on the cause will come until the investigation is complete.
The Owner Has Not Been Arrested
Ashis Sutradhar, a sub-inspector of Ukhiya Police Station, filed a case late Saturday against 23 people, four of them named and the rest unidentified. Resort owner Md Tanvir is the prime accused, and Majumder said Tuesday, Oct. 20, that more names could be added as information emerges. Majumder confirmed the case. Police detained the resort’s manager, Zahidul Islam, also known as Sumon, at the scene Saturday afternoon and have since shown him arrested in the case; he has since been sent to jail, and police have asked to hold him for questioning. Tanvir has not been arrested.
Notices Piled Up, Doors Stayed Open
Fazle Rabbi, authorized officer of the Cox’s Bazar Development Authority, said the authority had served the resort sequential notices since 2023, including orders to cease operations and demolish the structure. The authority rejected a development application because the site sits in a no-development zone. “The Fire Service issues notices, and we issue notices as well. You will find that even without business permits, these operations continue,” Fazle Rabbi said.
Lt. Col. MA Azad Anwar, director (Training, Planning and Development) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, said one sanctioned inspector covers 500 to 600 commercial premises across Cox’s Bazar district, roughly 400 of them operating without a fire license. Asked at the site Sunday, Oct. 18, about the licenses of Marine Drive businesses, he said: “This establishment was an illegal entity.”
