Sitakunda fire: tragedy that could be avoided

The death of 124 people in a devastating fire in Dhaka's Nimtali in 2010 does not seem to have taught us any lesson, particularly on how to handle flammable chemicals. If we could learn anything from the Nimtali incident, another tragedy would not have taken place in 2019 in Churihatta of Chawk Bazar that killed 77 people. And now it is Chattogram's Sitakunda. We are shocked and saddened by the loss of lives and injuries at the BM Container Depot due to horrific fire. At least 49 people have so far been killed and over 300 injured in the fire.

The fire is believed to have caused massive explosion after coming in contact with hydrogen peroxide, an oxidising agent which is not inflammable but can make fire more intense. It has been reported that fire-fighters sprayed water as there was no indication that there were chemicals in those containers. There was also no sticker warning if any of the containers contained flammable substance. In that case, instead of water, foam could be used to extinguish the fire.

The Sitakunda tragedy should be considered as a lesson for all businessmen, especially, those who store flammable materials. They must ensure that all fire safety measures have been taken while storing and transporting those materials. We must stay alert against recurrence of such tragedy anywhere in the country.

Ashikujaman Syed,

Research Assistant,

Bioinformatics Research Lab,

Center for Research Innovation and Development (CRID),

syedashikujaman@yahoo.com