Many people have died in the fires and explosions as the BM container depot authorities did not report the presence of flammable material there. Since the incident, Awami League leader Mujibur Rahman Rahman, the owner of the company, has kept his body covered.
The fire, which started at 9.30 pm on Saturday night, could not be controlled even after 24 hours, besides 25 units of the fire service, 250 members of the army are engaged in dousing the fire, a special fire brigade team Hazmat team has been sent from Dhaka.
So far, at least 49 people have died in this fire, out of which nine are firefighters. More injured will be taken
BM Container Depot is situated on 24 acres of land at Sitakunda, 20 km from Chittagong. There were at least 600 workers at the time of the fire, there were more than four thousand containers.
Shahjahan Sikdar, assistant director (media) of the fire service, said: “After the fire, we could not find the owner of the container depot. None of them told us that the chemicals were our firefighters because of lack of information. The technique of extinguishing chemical fires is different, it takes different types of personal protective equipment, firefighters present in the front line died without giving any information about the chemical
He said, ‘Fire license is necessary to set up a container depot, without this the depot cannot be built, if there is any inflammable substance or chemical, then it should be reported to the fire service, we are getting the presence of many types of chemicals there. K has several drums of chemicals. We are checking if he has a fire licence. At the moment it is not known what he will do after he steps down. “Now we are using drones to identify chemicals,” he said. I am trying to douse the fire using foam.
Chittagong Customs Commissioner Fakhrul Alam said the depot had hydrogen peroxide for export. It has been exported from here for a long time. They export it with a declaration. However, they were not told whether any other chemicals were kept here. “Hydrogen peroxide is not a combustible substance or explosive,” he said. However, anything can catch fire. Anyone can start a fire. I heard that there was a container of staple fiber in a puff of hydrogen peroxide. The fire was not an automatic detonation so it could have spread. If this happened the ship would explode.”
Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Department of Explosives Inspectorate. MD “Hydrogen peroxide is not an explosive or combustible substance,” said Abdul Hannan. It is not one of the 54 combustible materials listed. As a result, it does not require our approval to be imported or exported.
However, he added, “there could be another explosive or chemical.” In the panic of fire and explosion, it seems it should be investigated.”
Local MP Didarul Alam said that he had gone there after getting information about the explosion and fire in the night. Go and see there is no boss. Everyone escaped. “I saw liquid chemicals in several containers there,” he said. The epicenter of the quake was reported below ground, although no tsunami warning was issued. attacked in front of He said there were chemicals, textile products – all together there was no separate management of flammable materials. He said there was no such thing as fire safety.
Meanwhile, Chittagong Chamber President Mehboobul Alam said, “There is no compliance of the depot in that container. It is sad. We, the exporting traders have suffered the most for readymade garments worth Rs 10 crore, says BGMEA. have been burnt.
Though the owners fled, Shamsul Haider Siddiqui, GM Major (Retd) of Chittagong Denim, another company of Depot’s parent company Smart Group, was present at the spot. “There was hydrogen peroxide in the depot, that’s for sure,” he claimed. I don’t know if there were any other chemicals or not.” He said, ‘There were about four and a half thousand containers in the depot, 90 percent of them are textile products, about 550 laborers were working.
Asked why the men on Malik’s side ran away and were not found, he said, “They are scared, so are not coming out in public.”
Mujibur Rahman, MD, Smart Group, is the owner of BM Container Depot and treasurer of the parent company, Chittagong South District Awami League. Locals said that he had sought nomination from the Awami League in the last parliamentary elections. He is also the editor of the local daily Purvadesh in Chittagong. He and others on the owner’s side are now absconding. He has 8 industrials including magazines, container depots and readymade garment factories. establishments are