The remains of the Gazi Auto Tire Factory warehouse in Narayanganj, which continued to burn until August 27, 2024 | Photo credit: Special arrangement
a giant The fire broke out on August 25 The fire at one of Bangladesh’s largest tyre factories is turning out to be a major human tragedy. Rupshi’s Gazi Auto Tyre Factory, located in Narayanganj’s industrial area near Dhaka, owned by Ghulam Dastagir Gazi, chairman of the once powerful Gazi Group, is well known in the region.
The fortunes of the Ghazi Group began to change. Fall of Hasina government Mr Gazi, who was the textiles and jute minister under Ms Hasina, was arrested on August 25. He had gone into hiding before that.
Shortly after the news of Mr. Ghazi’s arrest was broadcast, a large mob gathered from nearby areas and raided the main warehouse located behind the tyre factory, seizing a large quantity of items, including inflammable liquids.
The exact size of the mob that attacked the five-storey warehouse is not known, according to store assistant Russell Hossain, who spoke to NDTV. the hinduThe entire staircase of the warehouse was packed with people, indicating that there were several hundred people who had come to carry away the material and hoped to make some cash by selling it at the nearby flea market.
“I saw men, women and even children arriving carrying wires, rubber sheets and canisters filled with liquids,” Mr Hussain recalled of the evening of August 25.
As people entered the warehouse, the lower portion of the building caught fire, trapping everyone upstairs. “We were standing far away and it became completely dark as loud explosions were heard from inside the warehouse. No one could escape. The fire spread quickly,” Mr. Hossain said. Ironically, store assistants and guards like Mr. Hossain were reportedly beaten up by the mob before they could enter the warehouse.
The news of the fire at the Gazi Auto Tyre Factory was broadcast on TV channels on the morning of August 26 as an attack by miscreants on the Gazi Group-owned factory. However, soon family members began gathering outside the high gate of the unit, drawing the attention of the fire service and district officials to the fact that the fire was more than a major arson incident.
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Poet Apu’s father Mohammad Umar Ali said that he came to the factory on the evening of 25 August and stood outside the factory for more than a day. Mr. Ali said the hindu Those who are missing are not workers of Ghazi Group.
“He came here with his friends. They were youngsters,” Mr Ali said, adding that his son, like many others, had come to the factory that evening to pick up goods.
The multi-storey storage facility housed sulphur, carbon black and unknown chemical agents that were supplied to other units of the Ghazi Group. Like Mr Ali, Khadija Begum wept as she said her son-in-law too had come to the premises with the mob and has been missing since the evening of August 25.
Some of the men who broke into the Gazi Auto Tyre Factory on August 25 and have been missing since then called to claim they were surrounded by fire and asked for help. Nothing more has been heard from them.
Fire service officials and factory guards met the hindu The high-intensity fire was claimed to have been caused by industrial-grade chemical agents, possibly caused by careless handling by the raiding mob, which broke into the facility after beating up the guards and storekeepers.
As of Tuesday evening, officials continued to say that at least 168 to 178 people were missing in the fire, though relatives mourning outside the gate said the actual number was much higher.
“They literally ran to commit suicide,” said District Collector Mahmudul Haque, who was controlling the emotionally charged crowd, adding that the tragedy could not have happened but for tight policing.