Bangladesh: Shipping container depot fire kills at least 38, injures hundreds
The fire broke out in a large depot in Sita Kanda where about 4,000 containers were kept, The fire reached a nearby chemical warehouse and rescue operations were underway
A fire at a shipping container depot near the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong last night has killed at least 38 people and injured hundreds, according to the World Broadcasting Corporation. The injured are in critical condition.
Volunteers dressed in ordinary rubber slippers pulled the bodies out of the rubble and smoke. They said there were more bodies.
The fire broke out last night at a large depot in Sita Kanda where about 4,000 containers were kept, most of them. The West was full of clothes made for retailers, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the main southern port of Chittagong.
The fire caused containers full of chemicals to explode, engulfing firefighters, journalists and others, damaging people and debris through the air, and shaking buildings several kilometers away. Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, director of BM Container Depot, said the cause of the fire was not yet known.
Chief of Fire Service Brigadier General Moinuddin told reporters that there was hydrogen peroxide in the container depot. He said that due to the presence of this chemical we have not been able to control the fire so far.
Many people, including journalists, were reporting on Facebook Live. They have not been identified yet.
A volunteer told reporters that there were still some bodies in the area affected by the fire, I have seen 8 or 10 bodies.
Tufail Ahmed said that due to the explosion, I woke up about 10 meters away from there, my hands and legs were burnt.
police officer Muhammad Alauddin said the death toll had risen to 38, with firefighters continuing to put out the blaze and doctors treating the injured in hospitals full of patients.
Muhammad Ali, a 60-year-old grocery store owner near the scene, said the blast was about to explode. They said that due to the explosion, fireballs were rising towards the sky and falling on the ground like rain.
We were so scared that we left our house immediately to seek shelter, we thought. That fire will spread to our area because it is very densely populated.A livestream showing a massive fire in an inland container depot in southeastern Bangladesh was disrupted by an explosion.
— TRT World (@trtworld) June 5, 2022
The fire killed at least 34 people and injured more than 300, officials have said pic.twitter.com/DvmGaJp6C1
Chattagang Chief Dr Ilyas Chaudhry said the injured had been taken to various hospitals while doctors had been called back from their vacations. 250 troops with sandbags have been deployed to contain the chemicals.
Mominur Rehman, chief administrator of Chittagong district, said the fire had been contained to a large extent, but there were still fires in many places.
He said firefighters were trying to contain the blaze inside the depot. Fires are common in Bangladesh, which is spread over an area of at least 7 acres, due to a lack of enforcement of safety rules.
Fires are common in Bangladesh due to poor enforcement of safety rules. About 90% of Bangladesh's nearly 1 trillion$ trade, including clothing from H&M, Walmart and other companies, passes through the port of Chittagong since the end of last year.
Exports are rising as the global economy recovers from the effects of the Corona epidemic, with remittances increasing by more than 40% in the first five months of the year.