DHAKA, June 5 (Reuters) – Firefighters worked for a second day on Sunday to put out a massive fire that killed at least 49 people at a container depot in south-eastern Bangladesh, the latest incident bad trajectory of industrial security of the country.
The fire, which also injured more than 200 people, broke out on Saturday night at the Sitakunda container facility, 40 km (25 miles) from the port city of Chittagong, and caused a large explosion and multiple container explosions. , officials said.
Containers full of chemicals were still exploding on Sunday as firefighters tried to put out the blaze and officials said the army had joined the mission. Images of the drones showed thick columns of smoke and rows of burned containers.
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The blasts had shaken the neighborhood and shattered windows in nearby buildings, local residents said.
The death toll could rise as some of the injured are in critical condition and rescue operations are still ongoing, Chittagong civilian surgeon Mohammed Elias Hossain said. Among the injured were firefighters and police, he said.
He said all doctors in the district had been called in to help deal with the situation, while social media was flooded with calls for emergency blood donation.
Five firefighters were killed and at least 50 others, including 10 police officers, were injured, he added.
Hundreds of distressed relatives went from hospital to hospital in a frantic search for their loved ones, according to witnesses.
Images of a drone show smoke rising from the site after a massive fire broke out in an indoor container depot in Sitakunda, near the port city of Chittagong, Bangladesh, on June 5, 2022 in this still image obtained from a video. Al Mahmud BS / Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS: THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT
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“I lost my brother,” said Shakhawat Hossain, a 25-year-old cousin of Afzal Hossain, who died in the fire. “Her father died 10 months ago. She was the youngest but she was the only one who cared for her mother … she has fainted over and over again. Nothing can comfort her.”
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It was not immediately clear what had caused the fire. Firefighters said they suspected it may have originated in a hydrogen peroxide container and quickly spread it to other containers.
Newton Das, a firefighter, said there were still explosions on Sunday afternoon in containers containing hydrogen peroxide and others containing sulfur. “It’s getting harder and harder as toxic fumes engulf the area,” he said.
Bangladesh has prospered in recent decades to become the world’s second largest garment exporter, but the infrastructure and institutional focus on industrial security is still in its infancy, the International Labor Organization said earlier. of the year.
Lax regulations and poor enforcement have been blamed for several large fires that have resulted in hundreds of deaths in recent years.
In 2020, three people were killed after an oil tanker exploded in a container depot in the Patenga area of Chittagong, while in July last year, 54 people died when a factory destroyed a factory. of food processing outside the capital Dhaka.
At least 70 people died in a fire that engulfed several buildings in a centennial neighborhood in Dhaka in 2019.
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Report by Ruma Paul; Edited by David Holmes
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