বাংলা | Epaper

বাংলা E-Paper 📍 Dhaka 📅 Saturday | 17 October 2026, 1 Kartik 1433 PID registration number 06

HEADLINE

● Biman suspends all Riyadh-bound flights indefinitely ● Fire breaks out at Ibn Sina pharmaceutical factory ● Truck-easybike collision leaves 5 dead in Kurigram ● PM inspects 13 Dhaka sites in 4.5hrs ● Two police vehicles vandalised in Uttara; cop's arm broken ● Death toll rises to 10, eight from same family ● PM orders suspension of doctor over smoking inside hospital room

Cox’s Bazar resort fire kills 10, 4 die after taking shelter in toilets

Published : Saturday, 17 October, 2026 at 4:30 PM

Observer Online Report

At least 10 people were killed and seven injured in a fire at a wooden resort in Inani, Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar, on Saturday morning, with four victims found dead inside toilets where they had reportedly taken shelter to escape the flames.

The fire broke out at Tuptup Resto and Resort near Patowartek Beach along the Marine Drive at around 7:00 AM on October 17.

The identities of six victims have been confirmed: Israt Jahan Maliha, 30, Milita Mehezabin Alvi, 23, Layla Jahan Nabila, 27, Nafista Mim, 27, Fariha Kabir, 33, from Chuadanga, and five-year-old Faizan Ahmed. Five of the identified victims are women and one is a child.

Senior Fire Service official Dolon Acharya confirmed that 10 bodies had been recovered from the scene. He said four bodies were found inside the resort’s toilets. The victims are believed to have entered the toilets and used water in an attempt to protect themselves from the fire.

Mohammad Toufiqul Islam Bhuiyan, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence for the Chattogram division, said fire service teams reached the scene at around 8:00 AM after receiving information about the blaze. The fire was brought under control at 8:15 AM. Four people died in two toilets on the third floor, he added.

Meanwhile, a couple staying at the resort survived by jumping from the second floor into a nearby drain. Both were injured and went to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital for treatment before leaving for Dhaka because of inadequate burn treatment facilities at the hospital.

The man said he feared that many people staying at the resort had not survived.

“My wife and I jumped from the second floor into the nearby drain and survived. We then went to the Sadar Hospital. There were around 20 to 25 people or more at the resort,” he said.

He said that, to his knowledge, only nine people, including himself and his wife, had managed to escape alive. He added that three children of a family staying near them had died.

Asked about the resort authorities, he said he did not know whether they had survived, as he had not seen any of them.

Ukhia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Atikur Rahman Majumder said at around 11:00 AM that information indicated 27 people had entered the resort, of whom nine were outside the premises.

Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md A Mannan said all the victims were tourists. He said the fire was initially suspected to have originated from a stove in the resort’s kitchen. A five-member investigation committee, headed by an additional deputy commissioner, has been formed to determine the actual cause.

At a press conference at the Fire Service headquarters in Fulbaria, Gulistan, Dhaka, Director General Brigadier General Sultanul Afreen Junaid said the resort did not have a licence from the Fire Service.

He said a fire service inspector had visited the resort in June, warned the authorities about safety risks and issued a notice. However, the resort continued operating without taking the necessary measures.

The director general said the incident was initially being treated as an accidental fire. The site is about 22 kilometres from the nearest fire station.

Asked about the cause, he said no definitive conclusion could be reached before the investigation was completed. He noted that the restaurant on the ground floor and the resort’s wooden structure could have contributed to the spread of the fire, but the exact cause would be established only after the investigation.

Meanwhile, allegations have emerged that people associated with the resort left the scene after the fire broke out. Their response was not immediately available.

sks