Our prayers are with the victims, their families and with the residents of Chittagong. Sitakunda fire in the eyes of artist Tufan Chakma. Used with permission. Bangladesh is becoming a manufacturing powerhouse in South Asia, and the number of industrial fire incidents is also rising as industries cannot keep up with the growing requirements of safety and prevention. A deadly fire broke out at a private container depot in Sitakunda Upazila of Chittagong district on the night of June 4, 2022. Firefighters were called and, while the first responders were putting out the fire in the containers, they were caught in a huge explosion, leaving many dead or injured. Soon after, more explosions rocked the place, causing a rain of fireballs. The magnitude of the disaster was so huge that the firefighters and health facilities were struggling. But ordinary people, regardless of differences of opinions or parties, came forward to help the injured. Twitter user Nurfa Akter Lucky shared: those pictures are not of any movie shooting. Picture after the horrific explosion at the container depot at Sitakunda in Chittagong on Saturday night. So far 42 people including 6 fire service personnel have been death and 400 injured in this accident.#PrayForChittagong pic.twitter.com/91pucw04SC — NurfaAkterLucky💜🇧🇩 (@SafiaHasansafi1) June 5, 2022 The depot contained a few thousand shipping containers laden with mainly readymade clothes for export, around 400 of which were damaged in the fire. According to the fire department, a few dozen containers containing hydrogen peroxide were the cause — the depot failed to notify the firefighters who first arrived at the scene that the chemical was present. The force of the explosions was so strong that the debris left marks a few kilometres away. At least 44 people have been killed so far, including 9 firefighters, and a few hundred people were critically injured — around 50 of them were rescue workers. Methun Sarker Tanoy shared some images on Twitter: Fire, explosion at Chattogram, sitakunda container depot pic.twitter.com/hl7l2lsLTO — Methun Sarker Tanoy (@MethunTanoy) June 10, 2022 Located 30 km from Chittagong city, the BM Container Depot acts as an inland container depot (a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to and from inland destinations) and covers an area of ​​26 acres. It was established in 2011 as a joint venture between the Netherlands and Bangladesh. The major blast at the depot was so devastating that it shook the area for several kilometres around. It also took a heavy toll on the first responders — the fire-fighters, security personnel and lorry drivers at the compound. A 20-year-old worker who was live-streaming the fire-fighting effort also died in the explosion, with his phone camera going blank as he live streamed. Hundreds of burn victims were rescued in the next few hours, but there were no local medical facilities that could tend to a huge number of casualties. They had to be taken to the port city of Chittagong, 40 kilometres away. Doctors and nurses in different hospitals in Chittagong worked tirelessly to serve the injured. Over 400 injured were first admitted to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) alone, creating a chaotic situation as blood and medicine to treat them were in short supply. Facing such a disaster, ordinary people came forward. People lined up in hundreds to donate blood at different hospitals. Some helped carry patients to the hospital by private transport and CNG rickshaws. A local organisation called Gausia Committee helped recover the remains of those who died from the blast site and bring them to the hospital for identification. The fire was so strong that many of those who lost their lives had to be identified by DNA tests. Hundreds of volunteers from the organisation were involved in evacuating the bodies from the blast site and transporting the victims to the hospital. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) also came forward to help the victims: @BDRCS1 are cooperating with the fire service to recover the bodies of the fire at the container depot at Sitakunda in Chittagong and providing emergency medicines, medical services and working to establish contact with the families of the missing and injured people. pic.twitter.com/usvPypaGaV — Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) (@BDRCS1) June 7, 2022 Hundreds of students of Chittagong University (CU) rushed to Chittagong Medical College (CMC) Hospital that fateful night after learning about the shortage of donor blood, especially for those with a negative rhesus factor. They stopped at every bus stop on the way to the hospital, searched for rhesus-negative donors and conducted them to the hospitals.