Massive blaze at Bangladesh container depot kills at least 49, injures more than 300

The fire at the BM Inland Container Depot broke out around midnight on Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals

Multiple rounds of explosions occurred after the initial blast as the fire continued to spread. At least five firefighters are among the dead

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Firefighters try to extinguish the fire that broke out at the container storage facility in Bangladesh. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:49pm, 5 Jun 2022Updated: 8:08pm, 5 Jun 2022

A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least 49 people and injured more than 300 others, officials and local media said on Sunday.

The toll was expected to rise, officials said, while volunteers reported that there were more bodies inside the smouldering, wreckage-strewn facility.

The fire at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight on Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals. The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined. The depot is located near Chittagong, 216km (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.

At least five firefighters were among the dead, according to Brigadier General Main Uddin, director general of the Bangladesh fire service and civil defence. Another 15 firefighters were being treated for burn injuries, he added.

Rescue workers and civilians carry a victim of the fire at the container storage facility to a hospital in Chittagong. Photo: AFP

Multiple rounds of explosions occurred after the initial blast as the fire continued to spread, Uddin said. Containers holding chemicals exploded, engulfing firefighters, volunteers and journalists in an inferno, hurtling people and debris through the air, and turning the night sky a blazing orange.

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 4km away, officials and local media reports said.