At least 49 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a massive chemical explosion caught fire at a shipping container depot in Bangladesh. Officials gave this information on Sunday.
Officials said the death toll was expected to rise, with more than 300 seriously injured, while volunteers said there were more bodies inside the smoldering, rubble-laden facility.
The fire broke out late Saturday at Sitakunda’s depot, which holds around 4,000 containers, many of which are filled with clothing earmarked for Western retailers. The facility is approximately 40 kilometers (25 mi) from the major southern port of Chittagong.
After the fire, containers containing chemicals exploded, taking firefighters, volunteers and journalists into a blaze, hurtling people and debris through the air, and turning the night sky a blazing orange hue.
Buildings located kilometers away were shattered by the force of the explosion.
Regional chief physician Ilyas Chaudhry told AFP the death toll was 49, but it would rise. Firefighters continued to douse the fire with hoses on Sunday as well.
“The death toll may rise as the rescue work is yet to be completed,” Choudhary said.
“These people – including many journalists who were living on Facebook – are still not accounted for.”
At least seven firefighters were killed and at least four others were missing, said Fire Department operations director Riyazul Karim.
“Never in the history of our fire department have we lost so many firefighters in a single incident,” Bharat Chandra, a former senior firefighter, told AFP.
“There are still some dead bodies inside the fire affected places. I saw eight or ten bodies,” a volunteer told reporters.
Mujibur Rahman, director of BM Container Depot, a firm that operates the facility with around 600 workers, said the cause of the initial fire is still unknown.
Brigadier General Main Uddin, the chief of the fire service, told reporters that there was hydrogen peroxide in the container depot.
“We still could not control the fire because of the existence of this chemical,” he said.
‘Fire balls falling like rain’
Mohammad Ali, 60, who runs a grocery store nearby, said the explosion was deafening.
“When the explosion happened, a cylinder blew into our little pond about half a kilometer from the site of the fire,” he told AFP.
“The explosion sent fireballs into the sky. Balls of fire were falling like rain. We were so scared that we immediately left our house to take shelter. We thought that the fire would spread to our area as it is very densely populated.
Lorry driver Tofel Ahmed was standing inside the depot when the blast took place.
“The explosion threw me about 10 meters from where I was standing,” he said. “My hands and feet are burnt.”
Chittagong chief doctor Choudhary said the injured were taken to different hospitals as doctors were brought back from leave to help.
Request for blood donation for the injured in the flood on social media.
army helicopter
The army said it has deployed 250 troops to prevent chemicals from flowing into the Indian Ocean using sandbags.
Chittagong district chief administrator Mominur Rahman said the fire has been brought under control to a large extent, but several areas are still active.
“Firefighters are trying to control these pockets of fire. The fire has spread to at least seven acres of land inside the depot,” he said.
Fires are common in Bangladesh due to lax enforcement of safety regulations.
About 90 percent of Bangladesh’s nearly $100 billion trade – which includes clothing for H&M, Walmart and others – passes through the port of Chittagong at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal.
Exports have been booming since late last year, as the global economy recovers from the pandemic. Shipments grew by more than 40 per cent in the first five months of the year.
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