Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5 June (PTI) Officials stated on Sunday that a major fire triggered by an explosion ripped though the private chemical container warehouse in southern Bangladesh, killing at least 40 people and injuring over 450 others. A fire broke out at the BM Container Depot throughout the Kadamrasul neighbourhood of Chittagong’s Sitakunda Upazila on Saturday night.
The reported injuries
“So far, 40 bodies have arrived at the morgue here,” said a police official there at government Chattagram Medical College Hospital (CMCH). The Dhaka Tribune quoted Istakul Islam, chief of Health and Service Department in Red Crescent Youth Chittagong, as saying, “Over 450 persons have been hurt in this incident, of which at least 350 are at CMCH.” “At other hospitals, the number of deaths could be higher,” Islam warned.
Furthermore, Ashraf Uddin, Chattogram Divisional Commissioner (DC) Ashraf Uddin stated that the DC office is providing USD 560 (Taka 50,000) to the families of the deceased. Meanwhile, the Daily Star claimed that USD 224 ( in Taka 20,000) has been provided to the injured’s families. PM Sheikh Hasina expressed her condolences for the loss of life & directed the mobilisation of all resources for the salvage operation.
Officials constituted a high-powered investigating group and demanded that it provide its findings within three days. A fire started out at the container depot around 9 p.m. on Saturday, according to Nurul Alam, CMCH Police Outpost Sub-Inspector (SI).
The spread of explosion
There has been an explosion when firefighters attempted to put out the fire, and the fire quickly spread. According to the article, it was initially assumed that its containers depot caught on fire due to chemicals.
Due to the combination of chemicals from one of the containers, there was a big explosion at 11:45 p.m., and the fire moved through one container to another.
“The depot was mostly vacant when the fire broke out, and firefighters, police officers, and other rescuers raced to the scene when the fire broke out, as well as the explosion in containers after containers full of chemicals killed them,” a victim told PTI over the phone.
“Around 19 firefighting units are working to douse the blaze, and six ambulances are also there on the area,” Chittagong Fire Service & Md Faruk Hossain Sikdar, Civil Defence Assistant Director said.
“Several sorts of chemicals, like as hydrogen peroxide, were stored in containers at the depot, and the chemicals visibly caused the fire,” fire department chief Brigadier General Mohammad Mainuddin has said at the site in the Sitakunda neighbourhood on the port city’s outskirts.
The majority of the fire victims were treated at the Chattagram Medical College Hospital, but others, including scores of firefighters, were treated in a military hospital and some private facilities.
READ UP-Explosion at neighboring Bangladesh’s chemical warehouse, at least 32 dead, hundreds burnt
