Guests at the wooden resort beside the Bay of Bengal were still asleep when the flames took hold.
The fire tore through Tuptup Resto and Resort at Inani in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, killing 10 people, including children.
Sea Winds Through a Wooden Resort
The blaze started around 7 a.m., said Syed Mohammad Morshed Hossain, deputy assistant director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Cox’s Bazar district. About 18 tourists were staying at the resort, which sits in a district popular with domestic tourists.
Saiful Islam, a volunteer who assisted at the scene, said the guests were asleep when the fire started. Strong sea winds pushed the flames through the wooden building, said Toufiqul Islam Bhuiyan, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence’s Chattogram division. Several people jumped from windows and balconies to escape.
Firefighters found four of the dead inside two toilets on the resort’s second floor, Bhuiyan said. “Some people had taken shelter in the washrooms to save their lives, but they died there,” Saiful Islam said.
Hossain said four people were injured. Another count put the number of injured hospitalized at six.
The Cox’s Bazar Fire Service received the alert at 7:23 a.m. Firefighters reached the resort around 8 a.m. and brought the fire under control at 8:15 a.m., according to the Fire Service, and crews fully doused it around 11 a.m. Local residents joined the rescue and firefighting, with support from police, the Bangladesh Border Guard and the Bangladesh Coast Guard.
Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner A Mannan said the fire was initially believed to have started at the kitchen stove, though that could not be confirmed. Authorities formed a five-member committee to determine the cause. Cox’s Bazar Superintendent of Police ANM Sajedur Rahman said there would be no definitive statement on the cause until the investigation is complete.
No Extinguishers, No Alarms, No License
Bhuiyan said establishments such as the resort must have portable fire extinguishers, fire alarms, hosepipes and a fire safety plan. The resort had none of them, and it also lacked a fire safety license.
Bhuiyan said the resort was built only seven or eight months earlier, and that a dispute over ownership of the land was reported. Fire officials inspected the property in June and warned about fire risks; the resort kept operating without the required license. The Department of Environment issued a notice earlier in 2026 and assessed Tk 100,000 in compensation.
Fazle Rabbi, authorized officer of the Cox’s Bazar Development Authority, said his agency had sent sequential notices to the resort since 2023, among them orders to cease operations and demolish the structure. Rabbi said the authority rejected a development application for the property because the site sits in a designated no-development zone. It issued removal directives in 2023 and 2024.
Lt Col MA Azad Anwar, director (Training, Planning, and Development) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, said at the site on Oct. 18 that the district has one sanctioned inspector for 500 to 600 commercial establishments. Nearly 400 establishments operate without a valid fire license, he added. Azad Anwar, asked about licenses along the Marine Drive, said, “This establishment was an illegal entity.”
The Owner Nobody Can Find
Police filed a case late Saturday against 23 people, four of them named and the rest unidentified. Ashis Sutradhar, a sub-inspector of Ukhiya Police Station, filed the case, and Ukhiya Police Station Officer-in-Charge Atikur Rahman Majumder confirmed it. The case names resort owner Md Tanvir as the prime accused, and Majumder said Tuesday, Oct. 20, that more names could be added as information emerges.
Officers detained the resort’s manager, Zahidul Islam, also known as Sumon, at the scene Saturday afternoon. The manager was due before a court Sunday, Oct. 18. On Monday, Oct. 19, police asked a magistrate’s court in Ukhiya for a seven-day remand to question him, and DNA samples from the dead and their relatives were sent to Dhaka to help identify the victims, The Business Standard reported. Tanvir has remained untraceable since the fire.
No Names Yet for Four Victims
Authorities have provisionally established the identities of six of the 10 victims, but they have not yet confirmed which body belongs to which victim. Four remain unidentified: two women, one child and one man.
The six were named as Israt Jahan, 30, and Milita Mehezabin, 23, from Dhaka’s Banasree; Laila Jahan, 27, and Nafista Mim, 27, from Khilgaon; Fariha Kabir, 33, from Chuadanga; and five-year-old Faizan Ahmed.
Local officials believe six of the dead were members of the same family. Authorities will hand the bodies to relatives after DNA testing, which could take three to four weeks, said Subaktagin Mahmud Sohel, resident medical officer at Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital.
