Bangladeshi business leaders fear losses worth millions of dollars due to airport fire

Dhaka, Oct 19 (PTI) Bangladeshi business leaders on Sunday feared losses worth millions of dollars after a devastating fire tore through the cargo complex of the country’s main international airport as the government formed several investigation teams to probe the incident.

“This (Friday’s fire) incident has caused losses worth thousands of crores of taka for the country’s businesses and will inevitably lead to an image crisis in the international market,” Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) president Mohammad Hatem told reporters after inspecting the site.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) senior vice-president Inamul Haque Khan Bablu said that they were still assessing the extent of damages while BGMEA director Faisal Samad feared the figure could be over USD 1 billion.

The finance ministry has a formed a five-member committee to assess the extent of losses caused by the devastating fire that broke out at the cargo village of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).

The fire service, civil aviation authority and several other agencies said they launched investigations into the fire.

The fire service officials after their initial investigations blamed the fire on lack of appropriate detection and protection system at HSIA.

“Such a big incident would not have happened if there were detection and protection systems. We did not find any such system at the site,” fire services operations director Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury told reporters.

He said the absence of such systems now required an investigation to determine when and how the fire started.

A visibly exhausted fire fighter earlier told private TV channels the blaze spread to every corner of the cargo village and wondered if any consignment could escape the fire.

The BGMEA leaders accused the civil aviation authority of negligence in preventing the fire with Hatem questioning “did civil aviation have that preparedness”.

“If not, the government must find out who is responsible for this failure,” he said.

The business leaders said generally sky routes are used for shipment of high-value products and meet urgent demands while the fire burnt into ashes the raw materials particularly for producing clothing and sample products for exports.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-biggest garment manufacturer, and textile and garment production accounts for about 80 per cent of exports.

The cargo complex stored fabrics, garment accessories, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other imports which were left in ruins.

Armed forces joined fire fighters who brought the blaze under control after 26 hours.

The fire forced authorities to suspend flight operations at the airport which was resumed fully on Saturday while an official said only four people required treatment for minor injuries during the fire.

Muhammad Yunus’s interim government said the security services were investigating the incident “thoroughly”, and warned “any credible evidence of sabotage or arson will be met with a swift and resolute response”. PTI AR GSP GSP