Sitakunda warehouse fire brought under control after 22hrs

News Desk

A fire that broke out at a cotton warehouse in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong on Saturday morning has finally been brought under control, around 22 hours after the incident.

Sultan Mahmud, senior station officer of Kumira Fire Service and Civil Defence, confirmed the matter, saying that the fire was brought under control with the help of the army and navy at around 8am on Sunday.

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

The army will brief the media on the fire when the flames are 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 Chittagong district administration Deputy Director Badiul Alam, was formed to investigate the fire.

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

He said there were 2,700 tons 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 the Chhoto Kumira area around 10:30am on Saturday.

On receiving the information, five firefighting units from two stations rushed to the spot and almost brought the blaze under control around noon.

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

Six more firefighting units joined in around 8pm on Saturday 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.