Titas Gas investigators find chemicals another suspected reason behind Tampaco fire

A committee of the state-run gas distributor to investigate the deadly fire submitted its report on Thursday.

The committee also found evidence of the presence of an illegal booster machine to pull gas for an ‘unauthorised’ boiler machine and a thermo fluid heater.

The General Manager for Dhaka Metro North of Titas Gas, Rana Akbar Haider, who is heading the three-member panel, had earlier expressed suspicion that the explosion of the booster machine, not a boiler, caused the fire.

He reiterated the suspicion on Thursday and added the ethyl acetate may also have been the reason behind the fire.

“Such chemicals vaporise in more than minus 4 degrees Celsius temperature and explode if something sparks,” he said.

The fire claimed 35 lives and injured at least 40 others.