Dhaka, Nov. 6 -- A fire has destroyed nine businesses and an autorickshaw in Kalabagan in Khagrachhari municipality.

The blaze broke out around 2:45am on Friday and took firefighters nearly three hours to bring under control, said Mukul Kumar Nath, station officer at Khagrachhari Fire Service.

Local residents said community members, army personnel and police helped firefighters tackle the blaze.

They put the preliminary loss at several tens of millions of taka.

Mukul said the fire spread quickly because the buildings were made of wood and corrugated tin. A shortage of water also hampered firefighting efforts.

Although firefighters eventually brought the blaze under control, nine businesses, including a timber shop and a furniture fac...