Gazipur RMG factory fire still on

Even after 25 hours of frantic efforts, fire service could not douse the blaze that broke out in a readymade garment factory in Chandra Palli Bidyut area of Kaliakoir upazila in Gazipur.

Apurba Baul, the station officer of Kaliakoir fire service station, said the fire broke out on the second-floor of a five-storey building of Tropical Knitting Factory of the “Mondal Group” in the area around midnight on Friday and soon spread to the other floors.

On information, 13 fire fighting units from Gazipur, Joydebpur, Mirzapur, Savar EPZ and Kaliakoir fire stations rushed to the spot to bring the blaze under control.

Around 4:00pm yesterday, three more units joined the effort.

At 1:20am today, a fire service official said around 20 units were trying to douse the fire. However, the situation improved, he added.

One fireman and three workers were injured while they tried to control the fire, said Apurba.

Machinery, threads, cloths and other valuables were damaged in the fire; however the authority could not ascertain the amount of loss immediately, Apurba said.

Several cracks have developed in the building following the fire incident, locals said.

Moazzem Hossain, a trader of the area, said when fire service doused the fire from one side, it soon spread to another.

Maj Shakil Newaj, director (operations and maintenance) of Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters said knowing about the fire, firemen from Kaliakair station arrived at the spot within five minutes but the fire, by this time engulfed, the entire floor.

Later, additional units from nearby stations and headquarters joined the operation.

The fire official said that they could not go nearer due to the acute heat and toxic gas produced through burning the acrylic substances stored inside.

Gazipur district administration formed a five-member committee to investigate the incident. The committee was asked to submit a report within 15 days.