An elderly couple died after falling ill from smoke inhalation during a fire incident in their flat at Gulshan in Dhaka on Thursday.
Freedom fighter and engineer Md Obaidul Haque, 72, and his wife Jahanara Begum, 68, were rushed to United Hospital where they were declared dead early in the morning, said Inspector Md Shahnur Rahman of Gulshan Police Station.
They had no burns on their bodies, the inspector said. “They fell ill due to suffocation.”
Faizul Haque, a sub-inspector, said the bodies were sent to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital for autopsy. Two house helps also fell ill after the incident.
Faizul said Obaidul is a native of Noakhali. Their daughter lives in the US.
Two units of firefighters rushed to the six-storey building on Road No. 7 in Gulshan 1 around 3:30 am after the fire was reported in the fourth-floor flat, said an official at the Fire Service and Civil Defence control room.
The fire originated from an electric short-circuit, the official said, reports bdnews24.com.