8 BM Container Depot officials sued over deadly fire

Eight officials of the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda of Chattogram have been sued over the recent deadly fire that claimed 44 lives.

Ashraf Siddiqui, sub-inspector (SI) of Sitakunda Model police station, filed the case which also has several unnamed accused, said Abul Kalam Azad, officer-in-charge (OC) of the station.

The accused are Deputy General Manager of BM Container Depot Limited Nurul Akhter, its general manager Saiful Islam, manager( Admin) Khaledur Rahman, assistant admin officer Abbas Ullah, senior executive Mohammad Nasir Uddin, assistant manager Abdul Aziz, container freight station in-charges Saiful Islam and Nazrul Islam.

However, no one has been arrested so far,  said the OC. 

Meanwhile, the blaze that ignited on Saturday night was completely doused on Wednesday, confirmed Lt Col Ariful Islam Himel, commander of the 18th Brigade of the 24th Infantry Division.

He, however, added that smoke was billowing out from the site, "but there is no fire inside".

The army official confrmed  the development on Wednesday afernoon. 

The extent of losses was being ascertained while efforts were underway to curb the pollution caused by the fire that actually ignited on Saturday night, making it one of the worst workplace accidents in the country in the past few years.

The fire and subsequent blasts at the BM Container Depot left over 200 people wounded. Around 130 people are currently undergoing treatment at the burn unit of CMCH, said Anisur Rahman, deputy director of Fire Service and Civil Defense.

Many of them are still in danger.