Staff Reporter :
Investigation team formed by the Dhaka South City Corporation said on Friday that perfume canisters blasts helped fire spread out sharply at Haji Wahed Mansion in Chawk Bazar on Wednesday night.
“Huge numbers of perfume canisters were stored in two floors of the building. That was filled with inflammable chemicals. So that it is clear that there were chemicals in the building which caused the fire spreading quickly,” said Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, a Professor of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a member of the DSCC probe committee at a press conference after visiting the spot.
He said that the inferno might be triggered by a cylinder blast, but perfume canisters stored in different floors expanded it.
Lieutenant Colonel SM. Julfiker Rahman, a Director of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, said that the canister known as bottles for refilling the gas lighter and the perfume canister blasts like ‘bomb’ and it played a vital role behind the sharp spreading of the fire.
“All of these elements helped the fire to be more devastating. Due to the heat of the fire, these bottles came under extra pressure to blast like a bomb. It happened due to chemical. It cannot be devastating with household materials. There is no chance to spread fire so sharply without any inflammable chemicals,” he said.
The fire started at 10:45 on Wednesday night in a five-storey building named Haji Wahed Mansion and spread to nearby buildings sharply. The authorities had initially said that 70 people died in the accident, but lowered the figure to 67 in the aftermath of the accident. The experts said the shrink street and density buildings were also behind the mass casualties.
Investigation team formed by the Dhaka South City Corporation said on Friday that perfume canisters blasts helped fire spread out sharply at Haji Wahed Mansion in Chawk Bazar on Wednesday night.
“Huge numbers of perfume canisters were stored in two floors of the building. That was filled with inflammable chemicals. So that it is clear that there were chemicals in the building which caused the fire spreading quickly,” said Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, a Professor of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a member of the DSCC probe committee at a press conference after visiting the spot.
He said that the inferno might be triggered by a cylinder blast, but perfume canisters stored in different floors expanded it.
Lieutenant Colonel SM. Julfiker Rahman, a Director of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, said that the canister known as bottles for refilling the gas lighter and the perfume canister blasts like ‘bomb’ and it played a vital role behind the sharp spreading of the fire.
“All of these elements helped the fire to be more devastating. Due to the heat of the fire, these bottles came under extra pressure to blast like a bomb. It happened due to chemical. It cannot be devastating with household materials. There is no chance to spread fire so sharply without any inflammable chemicals,” he said.
The fire started at 10:45 on Wednesday night in a five-storey building named Haji Wahed Mansion and spread to nearby buildings sharply. The authorities had initially said that 70 people died in the accident, but lowered the figure to 67 in the aftermath of the accident. The experts said the shrink street and density buildings were also behind the mass casualties.
