Twenty-two shops were destroyed in a fire that broke out at Prodhan bazar in Charfesson upazila on early Saturday.

Quoting locals, Shamsul Arefin, officer-in-charge of Charfesson Police Station, said the fire broke out at a mattress shop around 1am from an electric short-circuit and engulfed the adjoining shops.

On information, two firefighting units rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire after two and a half hours of frantic efforts, said the OC.

The fire gutted 22 shops.

Affected shop owners claimed that the estimated loss caused by the fire was around Tk 5 crore.