Chawkbazar fire investigation: ‘No evidence’ of cylinder explosion found

Investigators have found ‘no evidence’ backing locals’ claims that the explosion of a pick-up van’s gas cylinder started the fire at Churihatta in Old Dhaka’s Chawkbazar.

Instead they believe from the way the walls of Wahed Mansion, which had housed stored chemicals, exploded outwards show that the source of the fire and the explosion came from inside the building.

But the investigators have not reached a conclusion yet and will provide a final report, which includes the cause of the blaze and recommendations to prevent such tragedies in the future, once the probe is completed.

At least six panels from different government offices have been working for the last few days to unearth the cause of the Chawkbazar fire on Feb 20.

The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Explosives have almost completed their reports. 

The chemicals warehouses and storage of plastics and cosmetic goods in the shops and buildings in the neighbourhood intensified the fire, investigators believe.

But differing information on the cause of the fire from the locals has caused confusion.

Some of those present at the scene that night said they believed an electrical transformer exploded just a few feet away from Wahed Mansion and ignited the fire.

But later the other locals confirmed there was no transformer near Wahed Mansion. bdnews24.com could not find any transformers near Wahed Mansion and also found all other transformers in the vicinity intact.

Md Ashik Uddin, a resident of Nanda Kumar Dutta Road said that day he was standing about 30-35 yards away from the building and saw a pick-up van on the street in front of Wahed Mansion fly into the air after an explosion.   

“I think the car leapt into the air when its cylinder exploded. I just saw it as it came down. Then the fire spread everywhere in a fraction of a second,” he said.

Later reports from Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun and Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon cited the same witnesses. 

Shamsul Alam, chief inspector in Department of Explosives told bdnews24.com that the panel has not yet found any sign of such a cylinder explosion.

“We are considering the investigation from two angles—firstly, the cylinder explosion and secondly, chemical explosion. But we are yet to find any sign of a cylinder explosion.”

When asked what could be the reason for the blaze he said it would be included in the full report, which he hoped to submit within two days.

Two pick-up vans and a private car burned in the fire have been left on the street since the incident. The car has its cylinder intact but no cylinder was seen in the other two vehicles.

The top of two of the cars were severely dented, which shows something heavy had  fallen on them.

Part of the wall on Wahed Mansion broke and fell on the cars following the explosion, Debashish Bardhan, deputy director in Dhaka Division of Fire Service told bdnews24.com. The cars were also burned, he said.

“The walls of the next two building also exploded outwards. And the wall of the first storey in Wahed Mansion did the same. Bodies were found under the debris of the broken walls.”

A collapsible gate at the southern side of the first floor in Wahed Mansion was also destroyed, as were walls on the eastern side of the building. The four storey building housed a dozen shops at the ground floor and a perfume and plastic warehouses on the first floor. Both the floors were gutted in the fire.

At least 24 of the 67 dead bodies were found crumpled on the staircase of the ground floor of Wahed Mansion. 

On Thursday morning, fire fighters entered the basement of the building and found rows and rows of drums and sacks filled with chemicals. They said the situation would have been much worse if the fire reached the basement.

“There were canisters to refill gas lighters which are also flammable. There were others chemical that also helped the fire to spread quickly,” Fire Service Director Lt Col S M Zulfiqar Rahman said on Friday. 

“Perfume bottles used to be stored there. Those bottles acted like bombs,” he said.

The investigation committee of the home ministry collected the CCTV footage from Hotel Rajmahal, which was next to Wahed Mansion, on Saturday. The footage was aired on television channels as well.

The footage showed a massive explosion followed by a fire around dinner time. Perfume bottles and canisters were seen to fall from the upper floor.

The investigation team of the home ministry visited the first storey of that building on Sunday and checked the potholed walls and fallen canisters.

They believe a business made fake body spray on the first floor of the building, said one of the team members. They also found evidence of big explosion.

“The wall of this building exploded outwards and hit those two buildings following the explosion,” he told bdnews24.com pointing at the buildings on the other side of the street.

“We’ll analyse the findings. Today was our last visit to the scene. We visited it earlier but came again today for confirmation,” home ministry Additional Secretary Pradip Ranjan Chakrabarty told journalists after their inspection.

But he refused to confirm the cause of the fire.

“We have collected primary and secondary data and spoke to at least 30 witnesses, including the fire fighters. Now we’ll analyse it and submit the report,” he said.

 [Additional information provided by Obaidur Masum]