Belayet Hossain and his four brothers had to take out a loan to invest Tk 50 lakh for their business selling readymade garments at Bangabazar market ahead of Eid.

"Starting with one shop, we expanded to five shops over the past 10 years. We had a business worth Tk 5 crore. Now we have nothing," Belayet told The Daily Star after the massive fire ripped through the market this morning.

All 2,400 readymade garment shops and footwear stores were burnt to ashes in the fire that started in the Bangabazar Shopping Complex this morning.

The complex housed four markets -- Adarsha Market, Mahanagar Complex, Gulistan market and Bangabazar Market.

Eye witnesses told this newspaper that the fire erupted from Adarsha Market. By 8:00pm, the fire spread to the nearby markets, they said.

The reason behind the fire could not be known immediately.

No casualties were reported in the fire that tore through the iconic market and was brought under control after more than six hours.