Fire damages goods, machinery at Bashundhara mill

A devastating fire broke out at Bashundhara Paper Mills in Gazaria upazila of the district yesterday morning.

Five Fire Service units from different fire stations rushed to the spot and doused the blaze after more than nine hours of frantic efforts.

Thirteen workers were injured in the fire that broke out at around 9:00am at the mill in Anarpura area beside Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

Deputy Assistant Director of Fire Service Mamtaj Uddin said that the fire men tamed the blaze but different products of the company and machinery were damaged. The fire might have originated from an electric short circuit, he added.

Officer in-charge (OC) of Gazaria Police Station Ferdous Hossain said, the fire broke out first at the warehouse of the mill at around 9:00am.

Following the incident, the mill authorities tried to douse the blaze with their own resources but the fire finally went out of control.

Two units of fire-fighters immediately rushed to the spot and tried to bring the situation under control but they also failed.

Later two more units from Demra joined them. When another unit from Narayanganj arrived the fire began to die down.

The injured workers were taken to hospital but they are now out of danger, sources said.

Locals staged demonstration and tried to enter into the mill to rescue the workers but the law enforcers stopped them, the OC said.