Major damage averted as responders douse fire at Benapole port


FE ONLINE DESK | Published: October 21, 2022 11:49:30 | Updated: October 21, 2022 16:24:31


A fire broke out in an office unit of a warehouse at Jashore's Benapole land port on Oct 20, 2022.

Emergency workers have put out a fire that broke out in the office room of a warehouse at Jashore's Benapole port, bdnews24.com reports.

But the country's biggest land port was spared from any major damage due to the swift actions of fire service personnel, officials said.

The incident reportedly occurred in the office unit of warehouse No. 32 around 10:30 pm on Thursday due to an 'electrical glitch', according to the fire service.

It later spread to the warehouse, but the fire was contained and eventually extinguished with the help of two fire-fighting vehicles after a half-hour's effort, said Ratan Kumar Debnath, chief of Benapole Fire Service.

Although a few documents relating to imported goods kept in the office room were burnt along with a few goods at the warehouse, the actual extent of the resulting damage could not immediately be determined, Ratan added.

"The fire service personnel were able to bring the fire under control in half an hour, so there wasn't any great damage. Some documents were burnt. But it is not possible to provide details right now,” said Md Moniruzzaman, director of Benapole port.

As much as 80 percent of goods traded on land passes through Benapole. Every day, around 200,000 metric tonnes of goods are loaded and unloaded at the port.

In fiscal 2021-2022, the government collected Tk 46 billion in tax revenue from the port.

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