On Saturday night, a disastrous fire broke out at a private container facility in Chittagong, Bangladesh, killing at least 16 people and wounding 450 more.
According to the preliminary investigations into the incident, the container depot went up in flames due to chemicals, according to Nurul Alam of the Chittagong Medical College Hospital Police Outpost Sub-Inspector.
The incident occurred on Saturday night, June 4th, local time, according to the reports.
The fire broke out around 9 p.m., according to Inspector Nurul Alam. Despite the fact that the fire started at 9 p.m., a massive explosion occurred at 11:45 p.m.
Local media reports that the explosion, according to witnesses, shook the neighborhood and damaged the windows of surrounding buildings.
As a result of the presence of chemicals in one of the containers, the fire quickly moved from one container to another.
The deaths were confirmed by Istakul Islam, the chief of the Red Crescent Youth Chittagong’s Health & Service Department. “Over 450 people have been injured in this incident of which, at least 350 are at CMCH. The death count could be more at other hospitals,” he said.
The cause of the incident has yet to be discovered, according to Mujibul Rahman, the warehouse’s facility manager. He continued by stating that the facility employs roughly 600 workers.
In 2020, three workers were killed in another Bangladeshi warehouse when an oil container exploded.
Bangladesh has 19 private container warehouses that manage the majority of the country’s exports and imports.
