No one responsible for 51 deaths in BM depot explosion: Police

The police found no one responsible for the deaths of 51 people in an explosion at the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda, Chattogram on 4 June last year. 

The final report submitted by the Detective Branch of police to a Chattogram court on Wednesday recommended acquitting the eight BM Container Depot officials accused in the case.

Chattogram District Court Inspector Zaker Hossain Mahmud said next Monday is scheduled for the hearing on receiving the report.

Sitakunda police station Sub-Inspector Ashraf Siddiqui filed the case over the fire incident on 7 June 2022, accusing eight BM Container Depot officials.

The accused are BM Container Depot Deputy General Manager (Operations) Nurul Akhtar, Manager (Administration) Khaledur Rahman, Assistant Administration Officer Abbas Ullah, Senior Executive (Administration and Complaints) Md Nasir Uddin, Assistant Manager (Inland Container Depot) Md Abdul Aziz, In-charge (Container Freight Station) Saidul Islam, Container and Freight Station official Nazrul Islam, and Deputy General Manager (Sales and Marketing) Nazmul Akhtar Khan.

According to the case statement, the owners did not inform the Fire Service about the presence of containers full of chemicals in the depot, due to which it was not possible to put out the blaze with water. 

But the final police report submitted after around 11 months of the incident noted that there were factual errors in the case statement, and that the explosion was an accident.

Asked about the matter, Chattogram District Superintendent of Police SM Shafiullah said, "The report has termed it (case statement) a 'mistake of fact'. The eight BM Container Depot officials were not responsible for the incident. There was no negligence on their part either. It was an accident." 

However, the report of the investigation committee formed by the Chattogram Divisional Commissioner's office said the depot owners and the relevant government departments in charge of supervision cannot avoid responsibility in the fire incident. 

Chattogram unit Secretary of Shushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) Akhtar Kabir said, "Over 50 people died and more than 200 were injured in the fire. Assets, including export products worth hundreds of crores of taka, were lost. How is it that no one was responsible for the incident?

"The main culprits get away due to such reports by the authorities. Such events occur repeatedly due to this reason."

BM Container Depot was established as a joint venture of two companies from the Netherlands and Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi conglomerate Smart Group is a stakeholder of the depot. 

A terrible fire broke out at the depot located in Kadamrasul area of Sitakunda on the night of 4 June last year. Within an hour of the fire breaking out there was an explosion. The fire raged for 86 hours.

At one stage, the blaze was brought under control with the joint efforts of the army, the police and the Fire Service. 

The explosion damaged export products worth $1.93 million (around Tk167 crore).