Bangladesh has sought technical assistance from the United Kingdom, Australia, China and Turkey in preparing a forensic report of the fire that damaged a section of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport鈥檚 cargo village in Dhaka on October 18.
Civil aviation and tourism and commerce adviser Sk Bashir Uddin on Thursday informed the council of advisers鈥� meeting that they had sought the cooperation of these countries for a forensic report of the fire.
The fire gutted a huge amount of imported goods, including raw materials for industries, and forced the suspension of flight operations for hours on October 18 at the country鈥檚 vital facility.
Chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam disclosed the information at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy after the council of advisers鈥� meeting at the chief adviser鈥檚 Tejgaon office, with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in the chair.
He said that the meeting was also informed that a team from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, led by Professor Fakhrul Ahmed, inspected the damaged building on the day as part of the investigation.
Shafiqul said that the chief adviser had directed the authorities concerned to observe a fire safety week every year to check fire safety preparedness at their respective establishments.
The fire that broke out at the airport鈥檚 cargo village could be doused after 26 hours.
Fire service officials said that the absence of basic fire safety measures had made their fire control operation difficult.
Dozens of security personnel, including 25 members of the Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party, were injured while working to douse the fire.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence, the home affairs ministry, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and the National Board of Revenue formed separate probe committees following the incident.
