A fire and a huge explosion have killed at least 34 people and injured hundreds more at a storage depot near the city of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Rescue workers and civilians carry an injured victim to a hospital in Chittagong. Photo:
Hundreds of people, including firefighters, had arrived to tackle the fire when a number of containers exploded at the site in Sitakunda.
The cause of the fire is not known, but it is thought that chemicals were stored in some of the containers.
Hospitals in the area are overwhelmed and have appealed for blood donations.
Many of the injured are reported to be in a critical condition with burns covering 60 percent to 90 percent of their bodies.
"The explosion just threw me some 10 metres from where I was standing. My hands and legs are burnt," lorry driver Tofael Ahmed told AFP news agency.
Another volunteer told the agency he had seen more bodies inside the area affected by the fire.
Several firefighters are among the killed and injured.
The depot contained millions of dollars of garments waiting to be exported to Western retailers, according to a regional government official. Bangladesh is a major supplier of clothing to the West.
The blast reportedly shattered the windows of several buildings nearby and was felt from areas as far as 4km away, according to local news outlet Prothomalo.
The fire was still burning on Sunday morning, several hours after the blast. The army has been deployed to prevent chemicals flowing into the sea.
The town is only 40km from the country's second-largest city, Chittagong, and one of the city's hospitals has been inundated with victims. The injured include depot workers as well as firefighters and police, according to local media.
Several hours after the blast, firefighters were still attempting to extinguish the fire on Sunday morning.
About 600 people worked at the depot, the facility's director, Mujibur Rahman, told AFP.
Fires are common in Bangladesh. Last year, at least 39 people were killed after a ferry caught fire in the south of the country. And earlier that same year, at least 52 people died in a factory fire in Rupganj near the capital, Dhaka.
Three workers were also killed in 2020 after an oil tank exploded in another container storage depot in Patenga, not far from Chittagong.
- BBC
