Dhaka, Oct. 19 -- A fire has ravaged at least 17 shops at Faridpur's Boalmari Upazila.

The incident took place at Kadirdi market around 10:15pm on Saturday, according to Khalek Sheikh, station leader at Boalmari Fire Service and Civil Defence.

The affected shops include a beauty salon, medicine shop, tailor shop, seed store, shoe store, and a restaurant, situated across four markets.

Firefighters from Madhukhali and Boalmari brought the blaze under control after an effort of one and a half hours.

Monir Hossain, a retired Army member, said: "As the traders had closed their shops and left, there were not many people present in the market except for the guards. Upon hearing the commotion caused by the fire, I ran out and saw that it had ...