A massive fire gutted 35 shops at Boalkhali New Market, the main commercial hub of Dighinala upazila in Khagrachhari, early Friday morning.

The fire broke out around 3:00am and engulfed shops, including shoe stores, cosmetic outlets, salons, pharmacies and jewellery shops.

Two units of the Fire Service, with assistance from Dighinala police, the army and local residents, managed to bring the blaze under control after nearly one and a half hours, said Pankaj Barua, officer-in-charge of Dighinala Fire Station.

By then, most of the goods and furniture in the affected shops had been completely destroyed.

Fire Service officials said the lack of nearby water sources delayed firefighting efforts.

Preliminary estimates by business owners and the market management committee put the total loss at around Tk 4–5 crore.

Mohammad Alamgir Hossain, general secretary of the Boalkhali Market Management Committee, said the affected shop owners have lost everything and will find it extremely difficult to recover from the devastation.

Local BNP leaders and administrative officials visited the site to assess the damage and expressed their sympathy for the affected business owners.

The cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed, though a short circuit is suspected to have sparked the blaze.