Fire kills 8 family members

Eight members of a family died after a fire believed to have been caused by an electricity malfunction broke out at a house in Northern Bangladesh, rescuers said on Thursday.

Firefighter Sirajul Islam said three people died immediately when the fire began to burn after the family went to bed on Wednesday night inside their locked one-storey tin-roofed home in Joypurhat district’s Arambagh.

He added that five others were rescued when local residents and firefighters broke open the locked gate to the home, located almost 280 kilometres north-west of the capital Dhaka.

The rescued people all later died in hospital, district police chief Rashidul Hasan said.

Four children and two women were among the deceased, he added.

An investigation has been launched into the incident.