Image used for representational purpose only. | Photo Credit: PTI
The massive fire that broke out at Bangladesh’s largest tyre factory on Sunday (August 25) has become a major human tragedy. Located in the industrial town of Narayanganj near Dhaka, Rupshi’s Gazi Auto Tyre Factory was once famous for being owned by Golam Dastagir Gazi, chairman of the powerful Gazi Group.
The Gazi Group’s fortunes began to change with the fall of the Hasina government on August 5. Mr Gazi, who was the Minister of Textiles and Jute under Prime Minister Hasina, was finally arrested on August 25. He had gone into hiding before that.
Shortly after the news of Mr. Ghazi’s arrest was broadcast on TV, a large mob gathered from nearby areas and stormed the main warehouse located behind the tyre factory, which contained a number of items, including a large quantity of inflammable liquids.
Also read: What do the people of Bangladesh want? | In Focus Podcast
The exact size of the mob that attacked the five-story warehouse is not known. Store assistant Russell Hossain said that the hinduThe entire staircase of the warehouse was crowded, indicating that several hundred people had come to carry away goods in order to make some money by selling them at the nearby flea market. “I saw men, women and even children coming to carry away wires, rubber sheets and canisters filled with liquids,” Mr. Hossain said, recalling 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 very fast,” Mr Hossain said. Ironically, store assistants and guards like 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.
Poet Apu’s father Mohammad Umar Ali said that he came to the factory on the evening of 25 August and has been standing outside the factory for the past one day. Mohammad Umar Ali said that he is standing outside the factory. the hindu Those missing are not workers of the Ghazi Group. “He came here with his friends. They were young men,” Mr Omar Ali said, adding that his son had come to the factory that evening with the intention of picking up goods like many others. The multi-storey storage facility housed sulphur, carbon black and unknown chemical agents that were supplied to other units of the Ghazi Group. Like Mohammed Omar Ali, Khadija Begum broke down while saying that her son-in-law had also come to the premises with the mob and has been missing since the evening of August 25.
Some of the people who broke into the Gazi Auto Tyre Factory on August 25 and have been missing since then had 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 reported that they were surrounded by fire. 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.
By Tuesday evening, officials said at least 168 to 178 people were missing in the fire, though relatives weeping outside the gates said the actual number was much higher. District Collector Mahmudul Haque, who managed the emotionally charged crowd, said, “They literally ran to commit suicide,” and said tighter policing could have prevented the tragedy.