Sitakunda fire: Probes find depot owners liable

Two out of the six probe bodies constituted to look into the devastating fire at BM Container Depot in Chattogram's Sitakunda have submitted their investigation reports. Both of them have blamed the depot authorities as well as Al Razi Chemical, another company owned by the depot owners, for the accident.

SM Rashidul Haque, superintendent of police in Chattogram, however, told The Business Standard that police had not yet received the investigation reports and that they will take action once the reports reach their hands.

Meanwhile, some of the owners of the depot have left the country, capitalising on the apparent lack of action by the administration and law enforcers against them.

Mujibur Rahman, managing director of Smart Group and managing partner of BM Depot, has gone to Makkah to perform Hajj, while another director of Smart Group, Tarekur Rahman, along with his wife, is on a visit to Tajikistan.

Asked about the matter, SP Rashidul had no response.

The fire and its subsequent explosions at BM Container Depot on the night of 4 June has so far ended the lives of 51 people, with many of the over 250 injured still in a state of anguish.

Apart from causing casualties, the incident also damaged installations in the surrounding area.

BM Depot and Al Razi Chemical are two sister concerns of Smart Group.

The inquiry committee formed by the Chattogram Divisional Commissioner in its report has attributed the explosions that followed the fire at the depot to irregularities by Al Razi Chemical and mismanagement at the depot.

The committee has also found evidence of negligence on the part of the monitoring agencies, alongside the owners.

Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, additional divisional commissioner, and convener of the inquiry committee, submitted the 259-page report to Chattogram Divisional Commissioner Ashraf Uddin on Wednesday.

The report notes that after conducting all kinds of lab tests, the committee confirmed that no chemical other than hydrogen peroxide was present in the depot. The fire was caused by the explosion of hydrogen peroxide owned by Al Razi Chemical.

Pointing out flaws in the management of the depot, Mizanur Rahman told TBS, "During the investigation we did not find any CCTV footage. We did not find any software either. The owners said they had no backup. This is a failure on the part of the owner because of the fact that there will be no CCTV footage saved in the cloud or any other safe place in 2022 does not go with modern management, especially when a foreign national owns it."

He said the committee questioned BM Depot Managing Director Mostafizur Rahman and Director Mujibur Rahman and recorded their statements.

"The depot's Executive Director, Brigadier General (retd) Ziaul Haider, and General Manager (Marketing) Nazmul Akhtar Khan were also asked to appear before the committee for interrogation but failed to make an appearance.

"A major limitation of the report is that about 16 depot workers were killed in the accident, including those who were directly involved in the management of the depot."

Meanwhile, the probe panel formed by Chattogram port in its report has mentioned that the terrible explosions took place because of the negligence of the depot authorities in managing the depot.

Late last month, the committee submitted a 24-page investigation report to Chattogram port Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan.

The report says, "BM Container Depot contained containers of dangerous goods, including chemicals, and containers of other export-oriented goods, including clothing. If the dangerous goods had been kept separately in line with the rules, so many people would not have been killed. At the same time, if a specific container could be safely removed at the onset of the smoke, the situation would not get out of control.

"Basically, the accident happened due to a lack of adequate safety measures, lack of fire hydrants to ensure safety from fire and lack of trained manpower. The depot authorities cannot avoid their responsibility".

The report also blames Al Razi Chemical for the explosions at BM Depot.

As it notes, there were complications with exports of hydrogen peroxide shipments and that the containers were supposed to be taken to the factory from the depot on 2 June. But that did not happen. In addition, the jars containing hydrogen peroxide did not meet international standards.

BM Container Depot has been operating since 2011 under a Bangladesh-Netherlands joint venture. Hydrogen peroxide was also produced at Al Razi Chemical Complex, a concern of Smart Group that is involved in the management of the container depot.

Asked about this, Smart Group GM Major (retd) Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told TBS, "We have not received the reports yet. However, the accusations being made are partially true and partially untrue. There was a lack of planning as to where the chemical containers were kept. The depot had 177 fire extinguishers under a trained fire unit. There are also two water reservoirs inside the depot."

Experts for legal action on the basis of probe reports

In spite of gross irregularities in the management of the private depot, no action has yet been taken against its owners.

What is more, police have filed a case accusing eight employees of the depot, some of whom got injured in the incident, of negligence.

Manzil Morshed, a Supreme Court lawyer, told TBS, "The case was deliberately weakened in two respects from the very beginning by not accusing those who were supposed to be accused and by the case not being filed under Section 302.

"It is a known fact that people can die due to an absence of security measures. Putting people in the face of death and that too in that situation is crime tantamount to direct killing. Now that the investigation reports have pinned blame for the accident on the depot owners, police should re-introduce the names of the accused in the case and bring them to book."