As many as 43 people died as a fire broke out at a container depot in Chattogram’s Sitakunda in Bangladesh, media reports said on Sunday.
The injured people were rushed to hospital for treatment.
The fire broke out at the BM Container Depot in the Kadmarsul area around 9:30 pm on Saturday, reports bdnews24.
Chattogram Fire Service personnel were finding it tough to douse the fire and reinforcements were called in from Feni, Noakhali and Cumilla at around 3:30 am.
As of 2 pm on Sunday, 41 bodies were recovered and brought to the Chattogram Medical College Hospital morgue, ASI Alauddin Talukder of the hospital’s police outpost told bdnews24.
So far, 13 deceased people have been identified. Five of the dead are people belonging to fire services.
They are Moniruzzaman, 32, Mominul Haque, 24, Md Mohiuddin, 22, Habibur Rahman, 26, Rabiul Alam, 19, Tofayel Ahmed, 22, Alauddin, 35, Md Sumon, 28, Md Ibrahim, 27, Md Shakil, 22, Nipon Chakma, 45, Rana Miah, 22, and Afzal Hossain, 20, reports bdnews24.
Anisur Rahman, deputy director of Chattogram divisional fire service, told the news portal on Sunday morning that although the fire was brought under control, it spread again due to repeated explosions. The Director General of Fire Service said none of the owners or directors of the company are available, and amount or type of chemicals stored or how many containers are there is not immediately known.
As the fire is still raging which might take another 24 hours to be completely doused, it is not possible to go near the depot, the official added.
So far 15 of the deceased have been identified, health officials said.
Assistant Director of Chittagong Fire Service and Civil Defense, Md Faruk Hossain Sikdar said: “Around 29 firefighting units are working to douse the blaze and 50 ambulances are on standby at the spot.”
Families of the deceased are being given Tk 50,000, while Tk 20,000 is being given to the kin of the injured. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, President Abdul Hamid and Speaker of Parliament condoled the dea
