Foreign experts from four countries to investigate airport fire: Home Adviser

NN ONLINE:

Home Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury today said that experts from four foreign countries-England, Australia, China, and Turkey-have been invited to investigate into the devastating fire at the Cargo Village of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka.

“We have invited four countries to come for investigating to see if there was any mismanagement here,” he told journalists after inspecting the fire site at the airport.

The Home Adviser said they want specialists to come from England, Australia, China and Turkey to probe the fire. “They will find out the cause of fire and the people responsible for the incident through investigation,” he added. He said the four fire fighting engines of the Civil Aviation reached the site within 30 seconds of the fire breaking out, while the Fire Service and Civil Defence teams arrived within 20 minutes.

He also said that the fire spread rapidly due to the presence of flammable materials. The flammable materials and surrounding situation of that time were the causes for taking time in bringing the fire under control, he said.

Asked about the failure to douse the flame quickly, the Home Adviser said they did not fail as they brought the blaze under control successfully. It took much time than you expect, he said. The airport was made operative within several hours at 9:00pm on Saturday.

The blaze, which originated at the Cargo Village—where imported goods are stored—around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, was brought under full control after nearly 27 hours of frantic efforts at 4:55 p.m. on Sunday. The Home Adviser reiterated that they are now working to decrease the passport fees for the remittance warriors.