Ctg depot owners clueless about which chemicals they stored!

BM Container Depot in Sitakunda of Chattogram has been burning for the past 40 hours.

A violent explosion rocked Chattogram on Saturday night after a fire broke out in the 30 acre depot, which had containers storing hazardous chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide.

The blast could be felt from areas as far as 4km from the depot.

Charred bodies of 49 individuals have been found till Sunday night, while over 400 are receiving medical attention at different hospitals in the port city.

More bodies with severed limbs and arms are being brought out from the depot - which has turned into a hell on earth, reports our Chattogram correspondent.

Twenty-two firefighters were the first to respond to the fire that broke out in the depot in Chattogram.

Most of them never made it back.

Fire Service told the press that they were not informed about chemicals being stored in the depot. If they had that information, they could have taken precautionary and responsive measures accordingly.

Besides, the Department of Explosives has mentioned that BM Container Depot did not have any license to store hydrogen peroxide.

Tofazzal Hossain, inspector of the Chattogram Department of Explosives, told TBS that special infrastructures are a must for storing such chemicals. But there was no such arrangement in the depot.

They did not know the depot had such chemicals either.

As baffling as it may sound, now the depot owner has said that he himself did not know what type of chemicals were stored at his own institution.

"People who had knowledge about what was stored inside the containers are either dead or currently fighting for their lives," Major Retd Shamsul Haider Siddiqui, general manager (Admin) of Smart Group and owner of the depot told TBS.

When asked about fire safety measures inside the container terminal, Shamsul replied implying that he is not an expert on the matter.

He conceded that the number of casualties would have been less if the depot had informed the firemen about the chemical stockpile.

Mahbub-e-Ilahi, an inspector of Agrabad branch of the fire service said, "The claim of the depot owner that he did not know which chemicals were stored at his own terminal does not make any sense. We have seen owners concealing information on previous fire incidents as well."

"This time, we lost nine of our co-workers because of their lies," he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Chattogram Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan expressed anger as the depot owners were absent at the site of the incident.

He said the depot authorities were supposed to be there to guide the firefighters in locating the chemical consignment.