At least five people were killed and over 100 people, including policemen, were injured in an explosion as a fire broke out at privately run BM Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladeshi joint-venture at Sitakunda in Bangladesh’s southeast district of Chattogram [Chittagong] at the late night of Saturday. According to information the fire originated from a Cambodia-bound container of hydrogen peroxide and soon it spread to ten more containers immediately. Around 600 people work in BM Container Depot. It has a storage capacity of 6,500 TEUs in its 30-acre area. According to our correspondent, fire fighters were struggling as there had been few more explosions from containers located in the same area. Experts said, containers with hazardous chemicals on the port yard were posing serious threats of such incident.
Until April 5, 2022, there were 259 TUEs of containers with hazardous chemicals on the port yard, including goods received in 1994. The chemicals include sulphate, hydrogen peroxide, sulphuric acid, fire extinguisher, thinner, sodium sulphate, methanol, ethyl hexanol, nitric acid, and calcium oxide, said port authorities.
Although port authorities were asking for removal of these containers with hazardous chemical to avoid accident similar to that in Lebanon’s Beirul Port in 2020, customs authorities were showing total reluctance despite issuance of several letters on this matter. According to media reports, on March 15, 2021, the chairman of the port and the commissioner of the customs house jointly visited the sites where the containers with hazardous chemicals are located. Despite the fact that hazardous contents were supposed to be removed within 60 days, it was not implemented even in more than a year.
Experts said, any type of chemical or hazardous items need to be kept in separate places because each of these items reacts differently as different times and temperature. If stored for a long time, these items become harmful to the environment, water, air and above all, human life.
