BM Container Depot Fire kills 50

CHATTOGRAM, Jun 5:  At least 49 people including 9 firefighters were killed and hundreds of people, including police and fire service personnel sustained burn injuries in the fire and subsequent explosions at BM Container Depot in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram.  
Dr Ilias Hossain Chowdhury, Civil Surgeon of Chattogram, confirmed the incident on Sunday evening.
A team of 250 army personnel are working at the depot to help bring the fire under control, according to ISPR.
The fire broke out at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangla joint venture, at Sonaichhari under Sitakunda in Chattogram at about 10:30pm on
    Saturday. Though 22 hours have already passed, the fire is yet to be doused completely. Police and fire service personnel are trying to douse the flames and rescuing the injured people and sending them to hospitals. Meanwhile, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Alauddin Talukder of CMCH  Police Outpost told the Daily Observer that at least 43 bodies were brought to the Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) till 5:00pm, while nearly 200 injured have been admitted to different wards of the CMCH.
Deaths of nine firefighters have been confirmed in the fire at Chattogram's BM Container Depot, according to Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence. "So many deaths of firefighters in one fire incident haven't happened before," Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Brig Gen Md Main Uddin said.
He said, "I've been working with the fire service for almost 25 years. In all these years, I have never seen so many deaths (eight firefighters) in a fire incident." At present, 29 units of fire fighters have been trying to douse the blaze.
Brig Gen Md Main Uddin said, "A special team of 14 members of the fire service from Dhaka has rushed to Sitakunda. The team is headed by Assistant Director (Training) Monir Hossain. They've already started working there."
"I found hydrogen peroxide written on some of the drums here. A team of experts from the army has arrived. We couldn't locate the owners. We don't know about the placements of the various types of containers."
"All export products arrive here. The products may contain chemicals. The fire service said that there were 26 chemical containers. I went inside the depot and saw equipment, but no people."
Firefighters believe the chemical may be responsible for the runaway inferno that started on Saturday night. Fire service officials say they were not told about the presence of chemicals in the depot and still do not have confirmation on what chemicals were used.
Anisur Rahman, Deputy Director of the Chattogram division fire service, said the officials of the private depot have yet to confirm the types of chemical agents that were stored inside. The fire service applied water to douse the fire initially, as it does on most occasions, he said.
"We definitely would have adopted a different approach if we had been told about the presence of chemical agents in the depot," Anisur said.
The global standard protocol of dousing a chemical fire, commonly termed a Class B fire, is to apply inorganic suppressant foam.
More than 300 injured people, of whom, many received burn injuries, are undergoing treatment in different hospitals in Chattogram. However, the actual number of injured people could not be verified independently.
Asharf Uddin, Divisional Commissioner of Chattogram, told newsmen that the families of the deceased persons are being given Tk 50,000 by the DC office while Tk 20,000 to the families of the injured people.
A team of 250 army personnel are working at the depot to help bring the fire under control, according to ISPR.
Thirteen of the dead have been identified. Five of the dead are fire service personnel. They are Moniruzzaman, 32, Mominul Haque, 24, Md Mohiuddin, 22, Habibur Rahman, 26, Rabiul Alam, 19, Tofayel Ahmed, 22, Alauddin, 35, Md Sumon, 28, Md Ibrahim, 27, Md Shakil, 22, Nipon Chakma, 45, Rana Miah, 22, and Afzal Hossain, 20.

The fire service and civil defence personnel were unable to make headway despite multiple attempts were in place since this morning due to fire that is being sometimes fuelled by Hydrogen peroxide, sources said.
High government officials including CMP Commissioner and Divisional Commissioner visited the CMCH. Meanwhile, the government has allocated Tk one crore for the victims of the devastating fire that caused explosions at BM Container Depot.
An official release of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief said that, " Taka one crore in cash and 1,000 packets of dry and other food items have been allotted as humanitarian assistance for the victims of the Sitakunda fire."
The allocation was made today by the Ministry, added the release. RAB-7 chief Md Yusuf said, "We tried to rescue those trapped inside the depot. We have been able to rescue many people." At least 11 policemen were burnt and injured in the fire. Two of them have been sent to Dhaka for better treatment.
Chattogram Port Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan said, "We can't find those managing the depot. They will be able to guide the fire service. Only then will it be possible to put out the fire. I urge them to come here as soon as possible."
Fire Service and Civil Defence has formed a seven-member committee to find out the cause behind the fire at BM container depot in Sitakunda of Chattogram.
Three Investigation teams were formed. Meanwhile, a five-member inquiry committee has been constituted with the Terminal Manager as the chief to probe into the incident.
Besides, the factories and the establishment department has constituted a three-member committee to inquire into the incident.
At least people injured in the BM Depot fire in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram have been referred to Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute in Dhaka for better treatment.
"The seven were brought Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute  by Bangladesh army helicopter, according to ISPR.  "They will require ICU support," said Dr Samanta Lal Sen, coordinator of the burn institute.
According to BM Container Depot sources, the Depot is spread over 24 acres of land. There were about 4,300 containers, of which 3,000 were empty. As many as 450 containers were for import purposes and 800 for export. The chemical containers are stored separately. It is not known how many chemical containers were there.
The sources further said that depot was storing goods amounting to Tk 10 billion. Hundreds of containers were burnt. There were many workers on the night shift. It is a major blow to the country. Most of the goods here are for export. The local people said that the explosion was heard from as far as three kilometres away.