‘Flammable chemicals fuelled Chawkbazar fire’

Flammable chemicals fuelled the fire and caused it to last longer in Chawkbazar’s Churihatta, says an officer of city corporation’s probe body.

“The building in Churihatta had storage of flammable chemicals,” said Lt Col SM Julfiqur Rahman, a director of fire service, reports Prothom Alo.

“Cans of deodorants and lighter refilling fuel were stored inside the buildings. These are flammable chemicals,” he told reporters in the morning.

The officer, who is in the probe body formed by Dhaka South City Corporation over the incident, made the comment after visiting the spot at 9:00am.

Mehedi Ahmed Ansari, a member of the probe body and a professor of civil engineering at BUET, said Wahed Manshion, the building from where the fire reportedly broke out, lacked fire security equipment.
Nurujjaman Jahir, an engineer of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), said they are yet to confirm whether the building had construction permit.

WHAT HAPPENED AT CHAWKBAZAR?
A devastating fire broke out at Old Dhaka’s Chawkbazar area around 10:40pm on February 20, leaving 67 people dead at the spot.

Autopsies found all the victims were burned alive.

The victims are mostly pedestrians, people travelling on rickshaws and cars, residents of the buildings as well as owners and staffers of the shops and warehouses at the buildings.

The Chawkbazar fire, which sparked from a chemical warehouse, is the second deadliest chemical-fuelled fire in the country after the 2010 Nimtoli incident.(source the daily star)