Sheer luck prevents carnage after Chattogram market fire

It was only luck that prevented gross internal mismanagement from causing a massive fire and significant casualties at a Chattogram city market that caught fire in the early hours of Wednesday, according to government officials including the district administrator.

The fire killed one shopkeeper but the toll could be much higher due to the presence of high combustible chemicals, at least one gas cylinder, and absence of firefighting equipment in the part of the market where the fire originated, while narrow stairs make the market inherently risky, officials told reporters after visiting the site in the city's Anderkilla area on Wednesday morning.

Shop owners, however, have tried to deflect concerns over fire prevention measures, and rather emphasised the origin of the fire which they claim was a result of sabotage carried out by the market's landowners. The landowners sought malign means to evict the shop owners as a High Court stay-order prevents them from doing so legally, the businessmen claimed.

On Wednesday morning, Chattogram district's Deputy Administrator Abul Bashar Mohammed Fakhruzzaman told reporters that people of the port city are very lucky to have avoided a situation like the Nimtoli or Churihatta fire tragedies in the capital.

Otherwise, the illegally-stored combustible materials and gas cylinder placed around the source of the fire would have easily caused a major explosion, he pointed out after completing his tour of the market.

While Abul Bashar was speaking to reporters outside the market, smoke was seen blowing out of the market scaring pedestrians and shopkeepers.

The combustible chemicals were stored against regulations at a store named AB Surgical, and its owner declined to comment when asked about the illegal move.

Almost all the businesses in the market have been set up arbitrarily ignoring safety procedures, said Md Mijanur Rahman, director general of the Department of Disaster Management. Furthermore, the stairs in the market are too narrow for even two average people to pass through at the same time making potential rescue and evacuation efforts almost impossible, Mijanur added.

Early Wednesday, a fire erupted at a lathe shop named Alam Engineering, specilising in refrigerator and air-conditioner repairing, burning five other shops nearby in the market. Firefighters later recovered the corpse of Md Idris, uncle of Alam Engineering's owner, from the shop.

The district administration has awarded Tk25,000 to the victim's family for conducting funeral rites and would start mobile court drives in the port city to penalise businesses in short of firefighting mechanisms. The authoriries would also carry out campaigns to raise awareness over firefighting, Deputy Administrator Abul Bashar said.

Sabotage allegations

Khorshed Alam, proprietor of Alam Engineering, told The Business Standard that his shop provides lathe services and, as such, there is no scope of any fire accidentally erupting there. He pointed fingers at people involved with Islamabad Town Properties, owner of the market's land, for setting fire to his shop.

There is a High Court order preventing Islamabad Town Properties from taking eviction actions against the market's shop owners, he claimed. In this backdrop, the owners connived to set the deadly fire, Khorshed alleged adding he would take legal measures to seek justice.

On the other hand, none could be found at the office of Islamabad Town Properties, even though it stands near the market, to get comments.

Abdul Malek, assistant director of Chattogram division fire service, said the fire spread too fast for the deceased to get out of the shop, where he stayed every night. None of the affected shops had firefighting equipment, Malek said, adding a three-member committee has been formed to investigate the incident.