Recently, a fire broke out in a container warehouse in Chittagong City, southeastern Bangladesh. As of 20:00 local time on June 5, the fire in a container warehouse in Chittagong City, southeastern Bangladesh had killed at least 49 people and injured hundreds of others.
The Bangladesh Fire Service said the identities of 14 dead were confirmed and at least nine firefighters were killed.
Bangladesh warehouse catches fire and explodes
The accident happened in a private container warehouse in the Sitakunda upazila area, about 40 kilometers from the port of Chittagong, Bangladesh. On the evening of the 4th, a container stored in the warehouse caught fire.
After the accident, a rescue force composed of Bangladeshi army, police and 25 fire brigade rushed to the scene one after another to put out the rescue.
The container exploded when firefighters were putting out the fire at around 23:45 that night. The fire spread rapidly due to the presence of chemicals in one of the containers, causing more containers to explode and burst into flames.
As of about 20:00 on the 5th, the fire has not been fully controlled.
Chief Fire Chief Main Uddin said the warehouses were storing container cargo containing hydrogen peroxide, a chemical with a variety of industrial uses. "We still cannot control the fire due to the presence of this chemical."
He added that the army announced that 250 soldiers were being dispatched to assist in rescue operations, including stacking sandbags to prevent chemicals from spilling into the sea.
District Chief Medical Officer Elias Chowdhury said earlier that the death toll had climbed to 34, including at least five firefighters.
More than 300 people were injured, including at least 40 firefighters and 10 police officers. About 20 people are in critical condition, with burns covering 60 to 90 percent of their bodies, and the death toll could climb as rescue operations have not yet been completed.
"There are still eight to ten bodies in the blast area affected by the fire," a rescue worker told the media. At least seven firefighters were killed and four were missing, fire department official Rezul Karim said.
Fire officials said they suspected the fire may have come from a container containing hydrogen peroxide and quickly spread to other containers. According to witnesses, the huge explosion shook buildings several kilometers away.
"A cylinder flew about half a kilometer from the fire scene and landed in our little pond," said 60-year-old grocer Mohgammad Ali.
Chittagong District Chief Executive Mominur Rahman said that although the fire was basically under control, there were still several fires in the warehouse. Firefighters are trying to put out the sporadic blazes.
More than 1,300 containers were damaged
It is understood that BM Container Depot Ltd (BM Container Depot Ltd) is a Dutch-Bangladesh joint inland container depot (ICD) located in Sitakunda, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
The yard started operation in early May 2011 as a bonded area for loading and unloading of import and export container cargo, with various modern facilities for storing import and export cargo and empty/laden containers.
The BM Inland Container Depot website of the container yard shows that its cooperating shipping companies include: Maersk, US President APL, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL, Ocean Network ONE, etc., whichever is the latest or the facts.
The cooperating freight forwarding and logistics companies are: DAMCO, DHL, PRAN, Kangjie International Logistics Expeditors, FIT (Freight In Time), Bolloré Logistics. Whichever is the latest or factual.
There were about 4,000 containers in the warehouse at the time of the accident, many full of clothing destined for Western retailers.
Mujibur Rahman, director of BM Container Depot, said the warehouse employs about 600 people. The cause of the fire is still unclear.
Ruhul Amin Sikder, spokesman for the Bangladesh Inland Container Association (BICA), said some of the containers in the private container depot were filled with chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide. Between 1,000 and 1,300 full containers were burned or destroyed as a result of the accident.
Economic losses will exceed $110 million
On the 5th local time, the Bangladeshi government said it would conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire. The government has announced a pension of 50,000 taka (about 3,700 yuan) to the families of those killed in the fire, and a subsidy of 20,000 taka (about 1,500 yuan) to the injured.
On the same day, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina expressed shock and sadness over the fire accident. She asked relevant departments to take prompt and effective measures to treat the wounded, and called on all political parties to work together to deal with the current predicament.
According to Bangladeshi media reports, the country has set up two special committees to investigate the cause of the fire and explosion, and the relevant agencies estimate the economic damage caused by the accident will exceed 110 million US dollars.
Some scholars have pointed out that the flames, smoke and debris generated by the fire and explosion can spread to a radius of 2.5 kilometers, and the air quality within a radius of 10 kilometers will be indirectly affected.
Residents about 4 to 5 kilometers away from the accident site said they felt the shock when the explosion occurred, and people living around the warehouse also said they felt uncomfortable in their eyes.
About 90 percent of Bangladesh's annual trade of about $100 billion passes through Chittagong. The main port has gradually resumed operations since the end of last year as the global economy recovers from the pandemic.
Due to low safety standards and loose law enforcement in Bangladesh, fire accidents have occurred from time to time; in July 2021, a fire broke out in a large food processing factory on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, killing 54 people. In February 2020, another fire in Dhaka destroyed several apartment buildings and killed 70 people.
