DHAKA: Bangladeshi firefighters contained a blaze near the country’s main seaport in Chittagong on Tuesday, three days after the fire killed at least 43 people, including nine firemen, and injured hundreds of others.
The fire broke out late on Saturday, triggering blasts and blazes at the southeastern port’s container depot in Sitakunda.
Authorities have not determined the cause of the disaster but said leakage from a container of hydrogen peroxide was likely to be the source of the initial blaze. An official report is expected to be released by next week.
“The situation is fully under control now,” Mohammad Manikuzzaman, assistant director at Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, told Arab News.
Officials suspected that depot management had not followed safety guidelines.
“We have only noticed a few fire extinguishers inside the depot,” Manikuzzaman said. “Other than that, there was nothing visible in connection with fire situation preparedness.”
He added that the bodies of the nine firefighters who lost their lives while trying to extinguish the blaze had been identified and that three men remained missing.
“The total number of deaths in connection with depot fire stood at 43 as of Tuesday afternoon,” Dr. Aung Swi Prue Marma, deputy director of Chattogram Medical College Hospital, where the fire’s victims were hospitalized, told Arab News. “A total of 155 fire injured persons got admitted in our hospital while another 230 received primary treatment.”
Twelve people were severely injured and some of them had to be airlifted to receive specialist treatment at the Sheikh Hasina Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute in Dhaka.
“Among the 12 injured patients, three were admitted in the intensive care unit. One of them is in a very critical stage at this moment. Another one was also infected with COVID-19,” Dr. Samanta Lal Sen, national coordinator for all burn centers in Bangladesh, told Arab News.
“Patients with burn injuries are always very vulnerable. They might get infected at any stage.”
The depot fire was one of the worst accidents in Bangladesh, which already has a devastating track record of industrial disasters, including factories catching on fire with workers trapped inside.
Bangladesh's deadliest fire was in 2012 when a blaze swept through a garment factory in Dhaka and killed 112 workers.
Last year, a huge blaze engulfed a food and beverage factory in the capital killing at least 52 people.
In 2013, more than 1,100 people were killed when the Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka collapsed.
