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DHAKA, Bangladesh — An enormous fireplace at a container depot close to a port metropolis in southeastern Bangladesh killed at the very least 38 folks and injured greater than 100 others, officers and native media reported Sunday, as firefighters struggled to get the blaze beneath management.
The hearth on the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh three way partnership, broke out round midnight Saturday following explosions in a container filled with chemical compounds. The reason for the hearth couldn’t be instantly decided. The depot is positioned close to nation’s primary Chittagong Seaport, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.
A minimum of 5 firefighters had been among the many useless, in line with Brig. Gen. Primary Uddin, director common of the Bangladesh fireplace service and civil protection. One other 15 firefighters had been being handled for burns, he added.
A number of rounds of explosions occurred after the preliminary blast as the hearth continued to unfold, Uddin mentioned. Explosives consultants from Bangladesh’s army have been referred to as in to help the firefighters. The explosions shattered the home windows of close by buildings and had been felt so far as 4 kilometers (2 1/2 miles) away, officers and native media experiences mentioned.
Firefighters had been nonetheless working to deliver the hearth beneath management on Sunday.
The dying toll reached 38 by Sunday afternoon, in line with Ekattor TV station, and the world’s civil surgeon mentioned the quantity might nonetheless rise.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her shock on the accident and ordered satisfactory association for medical remedy of the injured.
Bangladesh has a historical past of commercial disasters, together with factories catching fireplace with employees trapped inside. Monitoring teams have blamed corruption and lax enforcement.
International manufacturers, which make use of tens of hundreds of low-paid employees in Bangladesh, have come beneath fireplace to enhance manufacturing unit situations lately. Within the nation’s large garment business, which employs about 4 million folks, security situations have improved considerably after large reforms, however consultants say accidents might nonetheless happen if different sectors don’t make related modifications.
In 2012, about 117 employees died after they had been trapped behind locked exits in a garment manufacturing unit in Dhaka.
The nation’s worst industrial catastrophe occurred the next 12 months, when the Rana Plaza garment manufacturing unit exterior Dhaka collapsed, killing greater than 1,100 folks.
In 2019, a blaze ripped by a 400-year-old space cramped with flats, outlets and warehouses within the oldest a part of Dhaka and killed at the very least 67 folks. One other fireplace in Previous Dhaka in a home illegally storing chemical compounds killed at the very least 123 folks in 2010.
In 2021, a fireplace at a meals and beverage manufacturing unit exterior Dhaka killed at the very least 52 folks, lots of whom had been trapped inside by an illegally locked door.
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