Bangladesh container warehouse fire: The death toll rises to 49

Fire at container depot domestic of BM, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out on the evening of June 4 (local time). As hundreds of firefighters rushed to put out the fire, several chemical containers exploded.

The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined. This container depot is located near Bangladesh’s main Chittagong seaport, 216 km southeast of Dhaka.

At least five firefighters were among those killed, according to General Main Uddin, director-general of the Bangladesh Fire and Civil Defense Authority. Another 15 firefighters are being treated for burns.

More explosions followed the initial explosion as the fire continued to spread, Mr. Uddin said. Explosives experts from the Bangladesh Army were dispatched to the scene of the explosion to assist the fire brigade.

The explosions shattered the windows of nearby buildings and could be felt up to 4 kilometers away.

“More than 300 people were injured,” chief doctor Elias Chowdhury of the Chittagong area told AFP news agency.

According to Mr. Chowdhury, many injured cases remain untreated, including journalists reporting on the fire: “The death toll will increase because the rescue operations are not over yet.”

Firefighters assess damage at the scene of the fire. (Photo: CNN)

Volunteers, some of them not wearing protective gear, scoured the area looking for survivors.

“There are still some bodies inside the fire-affected places. I’ve seen eight or 10 bodies,” a volunteer told reporters.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock at the accident and ordered the authorities to provide appropriate medical treatment to the injured.

In Bangladesh, many industrial disasters have occurred before, including fires at factories with workers trapped inside. Monitoring groups attributed the accidents to corruption and lax enforcement of labor laws.

In 2012, 117 workers were killed in the accident factory fire after they were trapped behind locked exits at a garment factory in Dhaka.

The country’s worst industrial disaster occurred in 2013, when the Rana Plaza garment factory outside the capital Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

In 2019, a fire consumed a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Bangladesh’s capital, killing at least 67 people.

Another fire in Old Dhaka in a house that illegally stored chemicals killed more than 120 people in 2010.

In 2021, a fire at a food and beverage factory outside Dhaka killed at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door.

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