Mysterious Blaze Ravages Government Primary School in Noakhali

A “mysterious” fire broke out on Sunday afternoon at the Beejbag DT Government Primary School in the Senbag Upazila of Noakhali, leaving a classroom in ruins. The incident occurred at approximately 5:00 PM in the Bakshirhat area, triggering immediate panic among local residents. While the fire was eventually extinguished through a combined effort of the community and the Fire Service, the exact cause of the ignition remains a subject of intense speculation and investigation.

Chronology of the Incident

According to Assistant Teacher Md. Nurul Kawsar, the alarm was raised when thick smoke was seen billowing from the ground floor of the school’s two-storey building. Local shopkeepers and residents from the nearby Bakshirhat market were the first on the scene, utilizing sand and water from the school grounds to battle the flames.

The Senbag Fire Service received a distress call via the national emergency hotline (999) at 5:25 PM. Although local intervention had largely contained the blaze by the time the fire engines arrived, the professionals were required to fully douse the embers and secure the structure.

Extent of the Damage

The fire was contained to a single classroom, but the intensity of the heat caused significant structural and logistical loss. The following table outlines the confirmed damages sustained during the blaze:

Political Context and Official Response

The timing of the fire has drawn scrutiny, as the school shares a compound with Beejbag NK High School, which is a designated polling station for the upcoming elections. However, school officials and the police were quick to clarify that the specific building affected by the fire is not used for voting purposes.

Mohammad Abul Bashar, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Senbag Police Station, noted that while the cause is not yet confirmed, an electrical short circuit is a primary lead in the investigation, as the power supply was active during the incident. A General Diary (GD) has been lodged at the local station to facilitate a formal probe into whether the fire was accidental or a deliberate act of sabotage.