Fire at Sitakunda cotton warehouse under control after 22 hours

Sitakunda cotton godown fire

Chattogram, Mar 12 -The fire that broke out at a cotton godown in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram district yesterday morning was brought under control this morning, around 22 hours after the incident.  

Sultan Mahmud, senior station officer of Kumira Fire Service and Civil Defence, confirmed the development, saying that the fire was brought under control with the help of Bangladesh Army and Navy around 8 am this morning.

Members of the army, navy and fire service are tirelessly working to douse the blaze completely, he said.

The army will brief about the incident when the fire is extinguished, the fire service officer added.   

On Saturday night, members of the army and navy joined the fire service in fighting the fire.  

Meanwhile, a 10-member probe committee, headed by Chattogram district administration’s deputy director Badiul Alam, was formed to investigate the fire.

The committee was asked to submit a report within 5 working days, Md Towhidul Islam, executive magistrate of the district administration, said.

He said there were 2700 tonnes of cotton inside the warehouse which made it difficult to bring the fire under control.

The fire started at the cotton warehouse of Unitex Group in Chhoto Kumira area around 10:30 am yesterday.

On information, five firefighting units from two stations responded to the fire and almost brought the blaze under control around 12 pm.

But as the fire flared up again, firefighters struggled to douse the fire due to a lack of a constant supply of water in the area.

Six more firefighting units joined in around 8 pm last night.

The origin of the fire and the extent of damage could not be ascertained immediately.

Earlier on March 4, six people were burned to death and around 33 sustained injuries in a fire after a massive blast at Seema Oxygen Plant in the upazila. - UNB