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Not less than 49 folks died and a whole bunch have been injured after a hearth sparked an enormous chemical explosion at a delivery container depot in Bangladesh, officers stated on Sunday.
The toll was anticipated to rise, with among the greater than 300 folks injured in critical situation, officers stated, whereas volunteers reported that there have been extra our bodies contained in the smouldering, wreckage-strewn facility.
The fireplace began late on Saturday on the depot in Sitakunda, which shops round 4,000 containers, lots of them full of clothes destined for Western retailers. The ability is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the foremost southern port of Chittagong.
Following the hearth, containers holding chemical compounds exploded, engulfing firefighters, volunteers and journalists in an inferno, hurtling folks and particles by means of the air, and turning the evening sky a blazing orange.
Buildings situated kilometres away rattled with the power of the blast.
Elias Chowdhury, regional chief physician, advised AFP that the variety of useless was 49 however would improve. Firefighters continued to douse pockets of fireplace with hoses on Sunday.
“The loss of life toll will rise because the rescue work has not been accomplished but,” Chowdhury stated.
“These folks together with a number of journalists who have been doing Fb lives are nonetheless not accounted for.”
Reazul Karim, operations director of the hearth division, stated that at the very least seven firefighters died and that at the very least 4 others have been lacking.
“By no means in our hearth division historical past have we misplaced so many firefighters in a single incident,” Bharat Chandra, a former senior firefighter, advised AFP.
“There are nonetheless some our bodies contained in the fire-affected locations. I noticed eight or 10 our bodies,” one volunteer advised reporters.
Mujibur Rahman, the director of B.M. Container Depot, the agency working the power with round 600 employees, stated that the reason for the preliminary hearth was nonetheless unknown.
The container depot held hydrogen peroxide, hearth service chief Brigadier Normal Essential Uddin advised reporters.
“We nonetheless couldn’t management the hearth due to the existence of this chemical,” he stated.
– ‘Fireballs falling like rain’ -Mohammad Ali, 60, who runs a close-by grocery retailer, stated the blast was deafening.
“A cylinder flew round half a kilometre from the hearth spot to our small pond when the explosion occurred,” he advised AFP.
“The explosion despatched fireballs into the sky. Fireballs have been falling like rain. We have been so afraid we instantly left our residence to search out refuge… We thought the hearth would unfold to our locality as it is rather densely populated,” he added.
Lorry driver Tofael Ahmed was standing contained in the depot when the explosion occurred.
“The explosion simply threw me some 10 metres from the place I used to be standing,” he stated. “My arms and legs are burned.”
Chowdhury, the chief physician in Chittagong, stated the injured had been rushed to totally different hospitals as docs have been introduced again from vacation to assist.
Requests for blood donations for the injured flooded social media.
– Military choppers -The military stated it had deployed 250 troops to forestall chemical compounds flowing into the Indian Ocean by utilizing sandbags.
Mominur Rahman, chief administrator of Chittagong district, stated that whereas the hearth was largely underneath management, there have been “nonetheless a number of pockets” that have been lively.
“Firefighters try to manage these pockets of fires. The fireplace has unfold to at the very least seven acres of land contained in the depot,” he stated.
Fires are widespread in Bangladesh because of lax enforcement of security guidelines.
Round 90 p.c of Bangladesh’s roughly 100 billion {dollars} in commerce — together with garments for H&M, Walmart and others — passes by means of the Chittagong port on the northern finish of the Bay of Bengal.
Exports have been booming since late final yr, as the worldwide economic system recovers from the pandemic. Within the first 5 months of the yr, shipments have been up greater than 40 p.c.
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