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CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AFP) — At the very least 16 folks have been killed and 170 others injured after a large fireplace tore by way of a container depot in southern Bangladesh, officers stated Sunday.
The hearth broke out shortly earlier than midnight at a container storage facility in Sitakunda, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the important thing port of Chittagong, fireplace service official Jalal Ahmed stated.
“Sixteen folks have been killed within the fireplace. The variety of fatalities is anticipated to rise as among the injured are in vital situation,” Chittagong’s chief physician, Elias Chowdhury, informed AFP.
A number of firefighting models have been on the scene trying to douse the blaze when a large explosion rocked the positioning, injuring scores of individuals, together with firefighters, Abul Kalam Azad, the native police chief, informed AFP.
“Some 170 folks have been injured together with not less than 40 firefighters and 10 cops. Three firefighters have been additionally killed,” he stated.
Chowdhury stated the injured had been rushed to completely different hospitals within the area as docs have been introduced again from vacation to assist in the emergency.
He stated the variety of fatalities might nonetheless develop as some 20 folks remained in vital situation with burns masking 60 to 90 % of their our bodies.
Native media put the variety of accidents at about 300, and requests for blood donations for the injured flooded social media.
Emergency crews have been nonetheless working to place out the fireplace Sunday morning and army clinics have been serving to to deal with the injured.
Mominur Rahman, chief administrator of Chittagong district, stated whereas the fireplace was largely beneath management, there have been “nonetheless a number of pockets of fireplace within the depot”.
“Firefighters try to regulate these pocket fires,” he stated.
Rahman stated the depot contained tens of millions of {dollars} of garment merchandise ready to be exported to Western retailers, for whom Bangladesh is a key provider.
Ruhul Amin Sikder, spokesman for the Bangladesh Inland Container Affiliation (BICA), stated among the containers on the 30-acre non-public depot contained chemical compounds, together with hydrogen peroxide.
The director of the B.M. Container Depot, Mujibur Rahman, stated the fireplace’s trigger was nonetheless unknown. He added the ability employs about 600 folks.
In 2020, three employees have been killed after an oil tank exploded in one other container depot within the neighboring Patenga space.
Fires are widespread in Bangladesh as a consequence of lax enforcement of security guidelines. In July 2021, 54 folks died when a blaze ripped by way of a large food-processing manufacturing unit outdoors the capital Dhaka.
In 2020, 70 folks have been killed when one other fireplace engulfed a number of Dhaka condo blocks.
© Agence France-Presse
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