Dhaka: On Tuesday, hundreds of Bangladeshi firefighters were dispatched to the nation's capital Dhaka to put out a fire that had spread to the city's oldest neighbourhoods and was raging through a well-known clothing market.

There have not yet been any casualties reported, but store owners and fire officials told reporters that the Bongo Bazar market and three nearby commercial precincts had been nearly completely destroyed.

According to Rakibul Islam, a fire department spokesman, "about 600 firefighters are working to put the fire under control." The blaze started around dawn.

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An air force helicopter had joined the effort to put out the fires, a military spokesman announced in a statement. Hundreds of people could be seen observing the fire from an adjacent flyover in aerial footage taken from the helicopter.

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The market is a favourite stop for discount Western fashion labels like Tommy Hilfiger, which sells clothing made in the city's garment factories but that didn't pass export standards.

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Ahead of Eid, the country's largest religious celebration and the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan, distraught shop owners told reporters that the fire had rendered them penniless. One business owner claimed, "I borrowed 1.5 million taka ($14,100) to buy Eid clothing." I am completely lost.