20141107 Bangladesh Fire guts blanket factory inside Dhaka Central Jail
Bangladesh Nov 07 2014 “Factories”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Fire guts blanket factory inside Dhaka Central Jail
Updated: 2014-11-07-19:38
A fire at a factory inside Dhaka Central Jail in capital Dhaka’s Bakshibazar has burned blankets worth millions of takas.
Fire Service Control Room officer Mohammad Ali said the fire broke out at privately owned ‘Kajal Woollen Mills Limited’ inside the boundary wall of the high-security prison around 4:20pm on Friday.
The owner, Netrokona-5 MP Waresat Hussain Belal, claimed 280,000 quilts worth nearly Tk 220 million burned in the blaze.
Fire Service’s Ali said eight units tamed the flames after nearly two hour’s effort around 6pm but it will take long to put the fire out completely.
Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, who has been sentenced to death for 1971 war crimes, is in this prison. The spot from where the inmates’ cells begin is only 10 feet away from the burnt factory.
Chawkbazar Police Station OC Azizul Haque said police took position all around the prison to ensure security. Additional Inspector General Shahidul Haque was also present at the scene.
The blanket factory and depot are situated right beside the office of the Inspector General of Prisons.
MP Belal runs the factory on a long term lease, where workers come from outside.
The MP told bdnews24.com that over 150 workers were in the factory when the fire started. He said an electric short-circuit caused the fire.
Belal said the blaze gutted 221,400 blankets for the disaster management and relief ministry. A further 20,000 on the prison authority’s orders were made and kept ready ahead of the winter season, along with blankets for other clients and raw materials.
However, one of the workers, Idris Ali, 40, said sparks from a machine that fell on some blankets started the fire and then it spread across the depot in a matter of moments.
He said they tried to douse the flames fast, but it went out of control very soon.
Fire Service and Civil Defence acting Director General Ziadul Islam said the power supply to the factory was cut off after the fire started. But fire-fighters had trouble bringing it under control as the factory and depot were full of flammable blankets, he added.
Islam, however, said there were no casualties.
Websource:Bdnews24.com
http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2014/11/07/fire-guts-blanket-factory-inside-dhaka-central-jail