Container depot fire spotlights Bangladesh industrial safety

By JULHAS ALAM and Al-EMRUN GARJON
Associated Press

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) — Authorities in Bangladesh are struggling to determine the cause of a devastating fire that killed at least 41 people, including nine firefighters, and injured more than 100 others at a shipping container storage depot. Experts are raising concerns about the country’s industrial safety standards as a result of the fire. Efforts to fully extinguish the blaze at the depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture near the country’s main port, are still continuing after it broke out around midnight Saturday, with smoke coming out of some containers. Officials say the number of casualties rose dramatically over the weekend because many workers and firefighters were unaware of the chemicals stored at the depot and went too close to the containers.