Environmental News from the Asia Pacific:
Firefighters in Bangladesh brought a blaze at a container depot under control on Tuesday, three days after fiery explosions killed at least 43 people at a facility that a senior fire service official suspected had not followed safety guidelines.
Drone footage showed smoke and rows of burnt-out containers from the fire that began late on Saturday, triggering blasts and blazes at Sitakunda, 40 km (25 miles) from the southeastern port city of Chittagong.
Authorities have not determined the cause of the disaster but suspect a container of hydrogen peroxide was the source.
“The fire has not been put out completely but there is no risk of further explosion as our team has sorted out the chemical containers .. one by one,” senior fire service official Monir Hossain told Reuters.
He said even basic fire-safety measures had not been implemented with only a handful of extinguishers in a depot storing dozens of containers full of everything from clothes to chemicals.
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Source: Reuters