The fire at the cotton godown in Chittagong's Sitakunda is under control after 21 hours

The fire at the cotton godown in Chittagong's Sitakunda has been brought under control after about 21 hours with the combined efforts of the fire service, army, navy, air force and BGB, the district administration said.

On Sunday (March 12) around 9:30 a.m. this information was given by District Administration Senior Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate Md. Touhidul Islam.

He said that the fire was brought under control around seven in the morning. There is no more fire. However, smoke is rising from some places.

About taking a long time to bring the fire under control, the army unit commander at the scene, Lt. Colonel Mahmud said, "Because the amount of cotton in the godown is high (2700 tons), after extinguishing the fire in one part of the godown, it became a pile and after a while, the fire spread from under the pile to another part. To meet the challenge of fire control, the surrounding walls of the godown with an area of 10 acres have been broken down in a controlled manner with bulldozers and fire tenders (water spreading machines) have been introduced from all sides. In the morning and night, using excavators and loader machines, the pile of cotton was removed and water was applied there.

The district administration has formed a 10-member investigation committee into the fire. The committee has been asked to submit its report within the next five working days.

Chittagong local government department deputy director Badiul Alam has been convened in the committee. Besides, representatives of Chittagong Superintendent of Police, representative of Industrial Police Superintendent, representative of Fire Service, DIG of Directorate of Inspection of Factories and Establishments, Sitakunda Upazila Executive Officer (UNO), Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sitakunda Police Station, representative of Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC), A representative of the Department of Explosives and a representative of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMEA).