Chittagong: At least 41 dead in a fire at a container depot in Bangladesh | International
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At least 41 people have died after the fire and multiple explosions at a container depot on Saturday in Sitakunda, 40 kilometers from Chittagong, Bangladesh’s largest seaport. More than 150 have been injured, according to the latest balance from local authorities, released this Sunday, in which the emergency services continue to work to put out the flames and rescue those affected. “It is getting more and more difficult because the toxic clouds dominate the area,” said firefighter Newton Das. The Armed Forces have joined the task.
This Sunday the explosions continue in containers with chemical products, which have shaken and broken windows in homes in the area, in the southeast of the country. The death toll is likely to rise because some of the injured are in serious condition, Chittagong medical services chief Mohammed Elias Hossain said. Five of the deceased are firefighters and among the injured there are fifty firefighters and a dozen policemen, he has specified. All district doctors have been mobilized.
The causes of the incident are still unknown. According to the preliminary investigation, the fire broke out in the BM container depot around 9:00 p.m. (local time). Firefighters came to put it out, but two hours later an explosion caused the fire to spread. Fire department sources point out that the origin was a container with hydrogen peroxide and the fire spread quickly to other containers.
The injured have been rushed to different hospitals in the cities of Sitakund and Chittagong, the daily reports. new age bangladesh. Many of them suffered cuts to their limbs and at least three people with more than 65% burns on their bodies were taken to a military hospital. There were about 250 workers inside the warehouse at the time the explosion occurred.
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Industrial fires and accidents are common in Bangladesh, a country with few security measures and in which there are usually a large number of victims. In 2019, a fire at a chemical plant in the Bangladeshi capital killed 70 people and injured 55 others. Seven years earlier, at least 119 people died in a garment factory fire.
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