Bangladesh depot fire leaves dozens dead

A fire has ripped through a container depot in southeastern Bangladesh, killing at least 49 people and injuring more than 200 others, officials said on Sunday.

The fire broke out at the BM Inland Container Depot in Sitakunda, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Bangladesh’s key port of Chittagong. While the cause of the blaze was not immediately clear, locals reported that there had been explosions in a container full of chemicals that shattered the windows of nearby houses.

Main Uddin, the director-general of the Bangladesh fire service and civil defense, said at least five firefighters were among the dead, and at least 15 were being treated for burn injuries. 

Is the fire under control?

After the initial blast shortly before midnight, there were multiple explosions that caused the fire to spread across the depot. 

Firefighters were still working to bring the fire under control and explosives experts from Bangladesh's military were called in to assist. Firefighting official Anisur Rahman said the effort was exacerbated due to small-scale chemical explosions triggered by the fire spreading throughout the depot.

Many of the casualties were taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital for treatment.

Chittagong civil surgeon Mohammed Elias Hossain said the death toll could rise as some of the injured are in a critical condition, and made an appeal for emergency blood donations. A call for help also went out to all doctors in the region to help deal with the situation.

Mominur Rahman, the chief administrator of the Chittagong district, said that while the fire was largely under control, there remained "several pockets of fire in the depot."

Bangladesh's history of industrial disasters

Bangladesh is a key clothing supplier to several Western retailers and the affected depot contained millions of dollars of garment products waiting to be exported. However, these industrial disasters have placed Dhaka under the spotlight with monitoring groups blaming corruption and lax enforcement for deadly incidents over the years.

In 2012, at least 117 workers died when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka. The next year, the Rana Plaza garment factory outside Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

In 2019, a fire ripped through the oldest part of Dhaka and killed at least 67 people. 

Last year, a fire at a food and beverage facility outside the capital killed at least 52 people. Many of the victims were trapped inside because of an illegally locked door.

see/kb (Reuters, AFP, AP)