Container explosion in Chittagong: 49 dead and hundreds injured

Container fire at Chittagong depot (Image: Al Mahmud BS via REUTERS)

Police and Fire Service officials said the fire broke out in a container inside BM Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture located in Chittagong's Sitakunda.

Fire service personnel tried to put out the fire, but the fire continued to spread from one container to another.

The explosion was so powerful that the glass of all buildings within five kilometers of radiance was broken, according to local residents.

At least 15 fire service units are trying to put out the fire. Fire service personnel said the heat from the chemical explosions was so high that they did not come close to extinguish the flames.

Fire Service officials added the fire was still raging and small explosions were exploding in the burned containers. Sources said there were about 50,000 containers at the dump when the fire broke out, but the number of containers that caught fire could not be immediately confirmed.

Among the dead were at least nine firefighters who were deployed to extinguish the blaze, according to Bangladesh's state news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS). Two firefighters remained missing late on Sunday.

Firefighters were still working to put out the blaze Sunday afternoon, as containers filled with chemicals including hydrogen peroxide or sulfur continued to spew, Reuters reported, citing fire service officials.

Although the cause of the fire remains unknown, fire service officials said it likely originated in a hydrogen peroxide vessel and diffused to other containers.

"It's really getting harder as toxic fumes engulfed the area," Newton Das, an official with the fire service, told Reuters.

Firefighters at BM Container Depot in Chittagong (Photo: CNN)

Source: Phaata.com (According to CNN | Reuters | ContainerNews)

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