Firefighters have worked for a second day to extinguish a massive blaze that killed at least 49 people at a container depot in south-east Bangladesh, the latest incident highlighting the country's poor industrial safety track record.
The fire that also injured more than 200 broke out at the shipping container facility on Saturday night at Sitakunda, 40 kilometres from the port city of Chittagong, triggering a huge blast and multiple container explosions, officials said.
Chemical-filled containers were still exploding on Sunday as firefighters attempted to douse the fire and officials said the army had joined the mission.
Drone footage showed thick columns of smoke and rows of burnt-out containers.
The explosion shook the neighbourhood and shattered the windows of nearby buildings, local residents said.
The death toll could rise as some of the injured are in critical condition, said Chittagong civil surgeon Mohammed Elias Hossain.
He said all doctors in the district were called in to help tackle the situation while social media was flooded with appeals for emergency blood donations.
Five firefighters also died and at least 10 police officers were injured, he added.
Hundreds of distraught relatives thronged the Chittagong Medical College and Hospital to seek missing relatives, witnesses said.
Chemical explosions cause toxic fumes
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.
Fire service officials said they suspect it may have originated from a container of hydrogen peroxide and spread quickly to other containers.
Chemical filled containers were still exploding, said Newton Das, a fire service official. Some contain hydrogen peroxide, while others contain sulphur, he said.
Bangladesh has prospered over the past decade to become the world's second-biggest exporter of garments.
But the infrastructure and institutional preparedness for industrial safety there is still nascent, the International Labour Organization said earlier this year.
Lax regulations and poor enforcement of rules in the south Asian country have often been blamed for several large fires that have led to hundreds of deaths in recent years.
In 2020, three people were killed after an oil tank exploded at a container depot in Chittagong's Patenga area.
In July last year, 54 people died when an inferno ripped through a food processing factory outside the capital, Dhaka.
At least 70 people died in a fire that engulfed several buildings in a centuries-old neighbourhood of the Bangladesh capital in 2020.
Reuters/ABC
