Bangladesh
Garment Factory Blaze Major fire breaks out in Madanpur garments factory, no casualties reported
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, January 29: The fire at a garment factory in Narayanganj's Madanpur was brought under control at around 9 pm on Friday after four-and-half-hour long efforts by 16 units of the fire service and civil defense. However, there were no casualties due to the holiday.
The fire service got the news of the fire at Jahin Garments around 4:30 pm. The first unit arrived within 15 minutes. Then the number of units were increased one by one. Eventually 16 units were sent to the scene.
Md. Shahjahan Sikder, officer-in-charge of the media cell at the fire service and civil defense headquarters, said the fire was brought under control at 9 pm. We have not received any reports of casualties. I can't say the cause of the fire and the amount of damage.
The main part of the factory called Jahin Knitwear was closed on Friday due to holiday. There were very few workers then. Habib, a worker in the swing department of the factory, said about 3,000 workers work in the factory. But most units were closed on Friday. However, some workers in each unit were packing ready-made garments and moving those to Unit-6 for shipment.
Several workers live in the vicinity of the factory. Seeing the smoke from a distance, they came to put out the fire. Heavy smoke spread throughout the area. Due to the smoke, the traffic on the side Dhaka-Chittagong highway was disrupted. Workers tried to extinguish the fire in the second floor shed of Unit-2 of the factory. But the fire spread quickly from there.
At first the workers went in and broke the window glass so that the smoke could escape. But as the fire intensified, they descended to a safe distance. Upon receiving the news, the fire service personnel came and started putting out the fire.
Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police Sheikh Billal Hossain said firefighters had faced challenges to bring the fire under control as the factory space was large and the fire was spreading fast. However, we initially learned that no workers were trapped inside as the factory was closed on Friday. There are no reports of casualties.
