Sixteen killed, at least 170 injured in Bangladesh depot fire

The fire broke out shortly before midnight at a container storage facility in Sitakunda, about 25 miles (40km) from the key port of Chittagong, fire service official Jalal Ahmed said, according to The Guardian.

“Sixteen people have been killed in the fire. The number of fatalities is expected to rise as some of the injured are in critical condition,” Chittagong’s chief doctor, Elias Chowdhury, told AFP.

Multiple firefighting units were at the scene attempting to douse the blaze when a massive explosion rocked the site, injuring scores of people, including firefighters, Abul Kalam Azad, the local police chief, told AFP.

“Some 170 people were injured including at least 40 firefighters and 10 police officers. Three firefighters were also killed,” he said.

Chowdhury said the injured had been rushed to different hospitals in the region as doctors were brought back from holiday to help in the emergency.

He said the number of fatalities could still grow as some 20 people remained in critical condition with burns covering 60-90% of their bodies.

Local media put the number of injuries at about 300, and requests for blood donations for the injured flooded social media.

Emergency crews were still working to put out the fire Sunday morning and military clinics were helping to treat the injured.

MP/PR