A FIRE in a crowded slum in Bangladesh’s capital has destroyed or damaged 1,500 shanties, leaving thousands homeless, authorities have said.

The blaze began on Tuesday evening in the Korail settlement in Dhaka and burned for 16 hours before firefighters brought it under control on Wednesday, said Rashed Bin Khalid of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Fire service director Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury said thousands of residents were left without shelter after their homes were engulfed.

Korail, spanning more than 160 acres, houses around 60,000 families, many of them climate refugees.

The slum straddles Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan and Banani neighbourhoods, and it is surrounded by clusters of high-rise apartment and office buildings.

On Wednesday, the residents who lost their homes returned to sift through debris in search of belongings.

Firefighters said narrow alleys made it difficult to reach the worst-hit areas.

Dhaka, a city of 10.2 million people as of 2024, has hundreds of slums where people from rural Bangladesh migrate because of poverty and exploitation.

Climate-induced disasters also push them to the city slums, where they live on daily labour such as driving rickshaws and working as housemaids and cleaners.