Even a day after the devastating fire at the cargo village of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, smoke was still seen rising from the site on Sunday morning.
Crowds gathered in front of the airport to witness the aftermath, though flight operations remained normal.
According to those affected, young entrepreneurs were among the hardest hit by Saturday’s blaze, which gutted valuable export-import goods worth crores of taka.
Firefighters continued spraying water from both sides of the burned area on Sunday morning to control residual smoke. “The rescue operation is still underway,” said Lima Khanam, an on-duty officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence control room.
Deputy Commissioner Mohidul Islam of DMP’s Uttara Division said, “Fire service teams are still conducting recovery operations, and a large number of police personnel have been deployed for security. However, no case has been filed yet.”
Several affected business owners, however, alleged that the fire service prevented them from entering the site to help douse the flames.
They also claimed that incorrect firefighting methods delayed containment. “They kept saying they needed permission before acting – by then, everything was gone,” one trader said.
Mofizul Islam, an importer, lamented, “We had goods worth several crores under LC. Everything is finished, but the authorities have said nothing.”
Another importer, Harunur Rashid, told The Times of Bangladesh, “More than 100 cartons of electronics arrived at the airport on Friday. All of it burned to ashes. The authorities have not even contacted us. We are left ruined.”
Reports suggest that small and medium entrepreneurs suffered the heaviest losses. Many had goods worth Tk15 lakh to 80 lakh in one or two shipments – stocks they depended on for an entire month’s sales. “We have lost everything,” said one devastated trader.
Entrepreneur Fayezur Rahman said his garments yarn shipment, worth Tk14.5 crore, was completely destroyed. “All my investment went up in flames,” he said.
The fire broke out around 2:15pm on Saturday at the airport’s cargo village. It took 37 units of the Fire Service nearly seven hours to bring the blaze under control.
No casualties were reported, but 25 Ansar personnel sustained injuries while helping to extinguish the fire, according to the Ansar and VDP authorities.
Flight operations resumed around 9pm, after being temporarily suspended due to the incident.
