A massive fire that broke out at the Chattogram Export Processing Zone on Thursday afternoon spread throughout the building as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze.
No casualties were reported.
As of 10:10pm on the day when this report was filed, the eight-storey factory building of Adams Caps and Textile Limited was still all up in flames, caused particularly by piles of flammable materials stacked inside it.
The fire originated on the seventh floor of the building on Road No 5 inside the CEPZ around 2:10pm, said EPZ police officer-in-charge Mohammad Zamir Hossain Zia.
Chattogram Fire Service deputy director Jasim聽 Uddin, however, said that the building caught fire on its seventh and eighth floors where highly flammable materials were stored.
Because of the flammable materials, it was difficult to bring the flames under control, Jasim Uddin said.
Quoting the factory owner, he said that the seventh and eighth floors served as warehouses and no workers were present there at the time when the fire started.聽
Sensing the fire, people from the sixth floor came down and also helped 25鈥�30 others to flee the flames.
The Fire Service engaged 15 units in the operation, while three units of the Bangladesh Navy along with two platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh have joined the operation, according to Jasim Uddin.
Industrial Police superintendent Abdullah Al Mahmud said that the fire was believed to have originated on the eastern side of the seventh floor, where a large stock of hospital aprons and other medical supplies were stored.
Firefighters began their efforts shortly after the fire had broken out, but it spread quickly.
He added that four units of the Industrial Police were working at the scene.
鈥榃e first ensured safe evacuation of the workers from nearby factories and deployed sufficient police personnel in the surrounding area,鈥� he said.