At least 24 may have lost life in hotel torched by mob: Hotel owned by Awami League leader in Bangladesh

 Shahin Chakladar, general secretary of Jashore district Awami League, owned the hotel targeted by arsonists. Deputy Commissioner Abrarul Islam confirmed the news of the arson attack. Two of the deceased were identified as Sejan Hossain (19) and Chayan (20). Harun-or-Rashid, a staffer at Jashore General Hospital, said that at least 84 people were undergoing treatment there, the majority of whom are students.

Rioters in Bangladesh set fire to the five-star Zabeer International Hotel in the city of Jessore. At least 18 people died in the fire and more than 50 were injured.

According to local news agency UNB, the hotel is owned by Shahin Chakladar, a member of parliament from the… pic.twitter.com/iKEe5a43UV

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 6, 2024

ANI, Aug 06, 2024, Dhaka: At least 24 people, including an Indonesian national, were burnt alive by a mob in Bangladesh at a starred hotel owned by a leader of Awami League party after its leader Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country, local journalists and hospital sources said on Tuesday. 

The victims, mostly boarders, were burnt alive late on Monday night as the mob set afire Zabir International Hotel owned by district Awami League general secretary Shahin Chakkladar in Joshor district.

"The dead included an Indonesian national," a local journalist told PTI in Dhaka over phone.

He added the doctors at Joshor General Hospital confirmed they counted 24 bodies while surviving hotel staff feared more bodies could be found inside the debris.

Media reports suggested unidentified mob, opposed to the Awami League (AL) regime, set the ground floor of the hotel on fire which quickly spread to the upper floors.

There were almost identical reports from across the country where the angry mob simultaneously vandalised residences and business establishments of many Awami League leaders and activists, including its central office in Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.

Bangladesh descended into chaos on Monday after Hasina resigned, surreptitiously fled the country and landed in India while the army stepped in to fill the power vacuum.

As the news of Hasina's departure spread, Dhaka and other parts of the country saw fresh round of violence in the already battered

South Asian nation with mobs resorting to street violence, vandalising government property and even breaking into Hasina's government residence and looting the interiors.