An explosives inspector in the Chattogram port city has said the authorities of BM Container Depot, the site of the devastating inferno which has claimed at least 49 lives, did not have proper authorisation to store chemical agents in the facility, which directly contradicts with the depot officials’ earlier claim that they did have paperwork for storing such materials, bdnews24.com reports.
The inspector Tofazzal Hossain said on Sunday afternoon that he was not aware of any such authorisation.
“So far I know, they [BM Container Depot] don’t have it. This is the first time we [Directorate of Explosives] are hearing about it,” he said.
The firefighters from Chattogram and its surrounding districts had struggled to douse the fire as multiple explosions rocked the area and kept exacerbating the fire.
Tofazzal said hydrogen peroxide, the chemical agent that many are assuming stoked the fire, may not be behind the explosion at all.
“Hydrogen peroxide is an accelerant agent, it can help spread the fire more, but it never causes it,” he said.
Since the fire was yet to be contained, the inspection team led by Tofazzal could not get close to the area still on fire.
“We could not get to the bottom of it. But I’m certain there were other chemical agents or materials which explode under the right circumstances, such as they come into contact with fire or any other materials.”
Any storage facilities require authorisations and clearances from a number of authorities -- no objection certificates from the district administration and the Department of Environment and licences from the Directorate of Explosives and the Fire Services and Civil Defence, to store materials which can be exploded, Tofazzal said.
Such materials need to be stored in a separate location within the depot as well, he added.
“I can’t say for sure at the moment whether BM Container Depot authorities had followed all the regulations or have the proper paperwork. We’re hoping to get all the details after the investigation is over,” he said.
DEPOT OFFICIALS CLAIM THEY HAVE PAPERWORK
Meanwhile, when approached, BM Container Depot’s Manager Nazmul Akhter Khan has claimed that the depot has all the necessary authorisations to store chemicals in the facility.
“We have all the paperwork. The chemicals were stored separately here for export,” he said.
He, however, could not give the exact number of containers which had been housing those chemical agents.
The Chattogram Port Authority’s Chairman Rear Admiral Md Shahjahan came up with the number though.
After inspecting the facilities on Sunday morning, he said hydrogen peroxide was stored in at least 26 containers in the depot.
Apart from those, he said some plastic cans under a shed in the depot had some of those chemical agents as well.
The navy officer posited that hydrogen peroxide may have come out of the plastic cans inside the container and came into contact with the container surface and oxidised.
The explosions took place when the temperature inside the container had reached a critical mass due to the chemical reaction.
The depot’s owner, Smart Group’s Administrative General Manager, retired major Shamsul Haider Siddique has said he will not comment on the matter which is under active investigation.
WHAT AN EXPERT SAYS
Dr Monir Uddin, a tenured professor at Chattogram University’s chemistry department, said any storage facility is required to follow some international guidelines to store chemical agents.
“Guidelines include the maintenance of adequate temperature and ventilation,” he said.
He also seconded explosives inspector Tofazzal’s theory that hydrogen peroxide acts as a fire accelerant.
“If hydrogen peroxide comes into contact with some flammable materials, explosions take place. So, the idea of the presence of some other flammable materials inside the depot can’t be ruled out,” he said.
