Guests were still asleep in their rooms when sea winds drove flames through the wooden buildings of a resort on the Bay of Bengal, and 10 people never made it out.
Ten people, including children, were killed when a fire broke out at Tuptup Resto and Resort at Inani in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.
The Cox’s Bazar Development Authority had sent the resort a series of notices since 2023, including orders to stop operating and to demolish the structure, long before the fire, according to Fazle Rabbi, the authority’s authorized officer. 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 again in 2024.
Asleep When the Flames Came
The blaze started around 7 a.m. at the resort, in a district popular with domestic tourists, 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 there.
Firefighters later found four of the dead inside two toilets on the resort’s second floor, said Toufiqul Islam Bhuiyan, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence’s Chattogram division. Volunteer Saiful Islam, who assisted at the scene, said the guests were asleep when the fire broke out. “Some people had taken shelter in the washrooms to save their lives, but they died there,” he said.
Several people jumped from windows and balconies to escape. Strong sea winds pushed the flames through the wooden building, Bhuiyan said.
The Cox’s Bazar Fire Service received the alert at 7:23 a.m., and firefighters reached the resort around 8 a.m. They brought the fire under control at 8:15 a.m. and fully doused it around 11 a.m., according to the Fire Service. Local residents joined the rescue and firefighting, with support from police, the Bangladesh Border Guard and the Bangladesh Coast Guard.
Hossain put the number of injured at four. Another count had six injured hospitalized.
Which Body Belongs to Whom
Doctors have provisionally established the identities of six of the 10 victims, said Subaktagin Mahmud Sohel, resident medical officer at Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital. Authorities have not yet confirmed which body belongs to which victim.
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. As of Oct. 18, the other four — two women, one child and one man — remained unknown.
Local officials believe six of those killed were members of the same family. Authorities will release the bodies to relatives after DNA testing.
The Resort Had None of Them
Establishments like the resort must keep portable fire extinguishers, fire alarms, hosepipes and a fire safety plan, Bhuiyan said. The resort had none of them, and it also lacked a fire safety license.
Builders had put the resort up only seven or eight months earlier, Bhuiyan said, and the land it stood on was reportedly the subject of an ownership dispute. Fire officials inspected the property in June and warned about fire risks, yet 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.
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 only one sanctioned inspector covers 500 to 600 commercial establishments across Cox’s Bazar district, and that nearly 400 establishments operate without a valid fire license. Asked about licenses along the Marine Drive, he 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. Resort owner Md Tanvir is the prime accused, and the case also names Newaz Morshed. Ashis Sutradhar, sub-inspector of Ukhiya Police Station, filed it, and Ukhiya Police Station Officer-in-Charge Atikur Rahman Majumder confirmed the case.
Officers detained the resort manager at the scene Saturday afternoon and named him as Zahidul Islam, also known as Sumon. He 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 been untraceable since the fire.
Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner A Mannan said the fire was initially believed to have started at the kitchen stove, but that could not be confirmed. Officials formed a five-member committee to determine the cause. Cox’s Bazar Superintendent of Police ANM Sajedur Rahman said no definitive statement on the cause would come until the investigation is complete.