A Massive Fire at a Container Depot in Bangladesh

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A Massive Fire

BASMAH team is already working on the ground to help the victims of the fire incident. Our team is identifying the real victims, visiting the victims in the hospitals and their families and providing them with initial financial support and food items. After the initial assessment, BASMAH will provide them with financial support raised through this campaign.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least 49 people, including nine firefighters, and injured more than 100 others, officials and local media reported Sunday, as efforts to extinguish the blaze continued into a second night.

The inferno at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals. The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined.

The depot is located near country’s main Chittagong Seaport, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.

At least nine firefighters were among the dead, according to Brig. Gen. Main Uddin, director general of the Bangladesh fire service and civil defense. More than 10 others were being treated for burns, he added.

Multiple rounds of explosions occurred after the initial blast as the fire continued to spread, Uddin said. Explosives experts from Bangladesh’s military have been called in to assist the firefighters. The explosions shattered the windows of nearby buildings and were felt as far as 4 kilometers (2 1/2 miles) away, officials and local media reports said.

The death toll reached 49 by Sunday evening, according to Ekattor TV station, and the area’s civil surgeon said the number could still rise as the fire raged for a second night.