Smoke continued to rise on Thursday from the site, where two days ago a fire broke out at a chemical warehouse and an adjacent garment factory at Shialbari of Mirpur in the capital on Tuesday, killing at least 16 people.
A seven-member committee was formed on Thursday by the Fire Service and Civil Defence to investigate the fire that broke out at about 11:30am on Tuesday.
The committee would be led by FSCD director for operations and maintenance Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury the fire service said in a text message.
According to the fire service, the fire initially broke out in the two-storey tin-shed chemical warehouse named 鈥楢lam Traders鈥�. The blaze led to an explosion that spread to an adjacent four-storey building.
As of 8:00pm on Thursday, four firefighting units were on the scene, tackling the smoldering debris, according to Khaleda Yeasmin, a duty officer at the FSCD control room.
鈥業t has not been completely doused yet. Smoke is still emanating from the warehouse but the situation is under control, and there is no risk of the fire reigniting,鈥� she said.
Meanwhile, a team of firefighters wearing protective suits and carrying oxygen entered the warehouse, FSCD officials said, adding that various chemical reactions were still taking place inside the warehouse, producing smoke and toxic gases.
They were only able to advance two to three feet from the entrance as the interior was completely filled with smoke, severely limiting visibility, they said.
The firefighters attempted to remove the smoke by spraying air and observed scattered chemical drums and sacks that had been flew around because of the explosion.
A four-member specialist team, led by Bangladesh Chemical Industry Corporation senior general manager Manjur Reza, visited the spot for inspection on Thursday afternoon.
After the visit, Manjur Reza told reporters that it was dangerous for the public in the area due to the presence of toxic gases coming out of the warehouse.
He warned the people in the neighbourhood and instructed them to leave the area to avoid exposure to these toxic gases.
The firefighters said that they deployed a remote-controlled device named LUF-60 to generate air flow and redirect the smoke in another direction.
A 鈥榞round system鈥� was also installed inside the warehouse to allow water to be sprayed for flushing out the sludge-like chemicals, they said.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department of the police completed collecting DNA samples of the 16 bodies, said Md Jamsher Ali, CID additional deputy inspector general of forensics.
The DNA samples of six of the 16 bodies were collected earlier on Wednesday and the samples of the remaining bodies were collected on Thursday, he said.
鈥楾wenty eight people from 16 families of the Mirpur fire victims have so far given DNA samples to the CID forensic lab. We will give the clearance for handing over the bodies to the families after matching the profiles,鈥� he added.
The police earlier said that a case was filed by a family member of one of the deceased on Wednesday night against the owner and the manager of the warehouse, accusing them of causing deaths by negligence.
