Locked gates, partitions made Rupganj fire deadlier: Fire Service 

Many parts of Shezan Juice Factory were locked and partitioned, which might have caused the fire to spread quickly and kill so many people, said Narayanganj Fire Service Director (Operations) Lt Col Zillur Rahman today. 

"Some places inside the building were locked. Many could not get out because of the partitions. All these could be the causes behind the fire spreading and the losses of lives," he said at the press conference on the accident, adding, "Details on this incident can be said only after the probe." 

He claimed that the fire service had provided safety license to the building authority after proper inspections and warned about the safety issues after inspecting again years later.  

"After the (later) inspection, we informed them on paper to take security measures as per Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC). If the issues had remained unchecked even then it is the responsibility of the management," he told the media. 

The fire service spokesperson further said details about the accident are yet to be found out as the fire fighting is still going on. 

"We have just put out the fire but fire fighting is still ongoing and we will not start the investigation before it is over. Hopefully it will end in the afternoon," he said. 

Zillur Rahman said the fire service investigation committee will look into the origin of the fire and other issues starting tomorrow. 

Almost all the dead bodies were recovered from the 5th floor and that is where the fire may have originated as well, the fire service director said. 

"To my knowledge, all the bodies were found on the 5th floor. We are guessing that workers from other floors tried to stay on the 4th floor and waited for the fire to be extinguished," he said. 

"After a large fire, almost all the signs turn to coal, so we can find out the source of the fire only after the investigation," Zillur added. 

He also highlighted that although there was no crisis of water on the spot the diverse nature of stored raw materials in all floors of the factory caused the fire to spread faster and burn longer. 

Fire service suspects that the fire started from the floors facing the nearby connecting road in front of the factory.

The blaze that started at around 5pm Thursday has so far claimed over 50 lives and injured many others.