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A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least 28 people and injured more than 100 others, officials and local media said Sunday, as firefighters struggled to get the blaze under control, Associated Press reported.

The fire at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals. The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined. The depot is located in Chittagong, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.

At least five firefighters were among the dead, according to Brig. Gen. Main Uddin, director general of the Bangladesh fire service and civil defense. Another 15 firefighters were being treated for burn injuries, he added. 

Multiple rounds of explosions occurred after the initial blast as the fire continued to spread, Uddin said. Explosives experts from Bangladesh’s military have been called in to assist the firefighters. The explosions shattered the windows of nearby buildings and were felt as far as 4 kilometers away, officials and local media reports said.

Firefighters were still working to bring the fire under control on Sunday.

The death toll reached 28 by late morning on Sunday, according to Ekattor TV station, and the area’s civil surgeon said the number could still rise further. Many of the casualties happened at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, while the rest of the bodies were recovered from the site of the fire, according to the Associated Press.

Many of the containers in the depot are believed to have held chemicals. The depot handles goods for export and import and is located about 20 kilometers from the country’s main Chittagong Seaport.

Bangladesh has a history of industrial disasters, including factories catching fire with workers trapped inside. Monitoring groups have blamed corruption and lax enforcement for deadly incidents over the years. 

Global brands, which employ tens of thousands of low-paid workers in Bangladesh, have come under fire to improve factory conditions in recent years. In the country’s massive garment industry, which employs about 4 million people, safety conditions have improved significantly after massive reforms, but experts say accidents could still occur if other sectors do not make similar changes. 

In 2012, about 117 workers died when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka.

The country’s worst industrial disaster occurred the following year, when the Rana Plaza garment factory outside Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people, Associated Press reported. 

In 2019, a blaze ripped through a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Dhaka and killed at least 67 people. Another fire in Old Dhaka in a house illegally storing chemicals killed at least 123 people in 2010.

In 2021, a fire at a food and beverage factory outside Dhaka killed at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door, according to the Associated Press.

Six of the nine people killed in a bus accident in Rupandehi have been identified. 

The deceased have been identified as Bishnu Paudel (56) of Yogikuti, Butwal, Krishna Prasad Basyal of Kalikanagar, Butwal-11, Rajendra Prasad Pandey of Matariya, Omsatiya Rural Municipality-4, Dinesh Das (20) of Rautahat, Tulsi Basyal (37) of Tilottama Municipality-8, Rupandehi and Arbindra Sharma (40) of Janakpurgram, India.

Also read:  9 killed, 24 injured as bus falls off bridge in Rupandehi

Police said that 24 persons were injured in the incident. Among them, 16 are in critical condition. 

There were 33 persons on board the ill-fated bus when the incident occurred.

Annapurna Media Network (AMN) in association with Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) organized an electric vehicle rally in Kathmandu on the occasion of World Environment Day on Sunday.

The rally which started from corporate office of Annapurna Media Network in Tinkune this morning passed through Gaushala, Chabahil, Mahargunj, Balaju, Sorakhutte, Lainchaur, Kesarmahal, Jamal, Durbarmarg, Gyaneshwor, Ratopul, Gaushala and culminated at Tinkune ground.

Before the commencement of the rally, Annapurna Media Network Chairman Rameshwar Thapa said that the people should contribute to the protection of the environment from today itself for the next generation.

He stressed on the need for national and international organizations, government and private sector to work hand in hand for the protection of the environment.

Saying that human activities are degrading the environment, Dr Madhusudhan Adhikari, Executive Director of the Alternative Energy Promotion Center, said that human activities should be environment friendly.

He stressed on the need for promoting electric vehicles to protect the environment.

World Environment Day was observed on June 5 in Nepal and across the world.

At least nine persons died and 26 others were injured when a commuter bus met with an accident in Rupandehi on Sunday.

The identities of the deceased are yet to be ascertained.

Among the injured, 16 are said to be in critical condition.

DSP Nawaratna Paudel, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Rupandehi, the incident occurred when the bus (Lu 2 Kha 3841) heading towards Bhairahawa from Janakpur plunged off a bridge into the Rohini River at the border of Rohini Rural Municipality-3 and Omsatiya Rural Municipality-4 along the Bhairahawa-Parasi road section at around 4 am today.

Police said that the injured have been taken to the Bhairahawa-based Bhim Hospital and Universal Medical College for treatment.