Bangladesh fire: Over 40 killed, hundreds injured in depot blast

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

A fire and a huge explosion have killed at least 44 people and injured hundreds more at a storage depot near the city of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
...
It is thought that chemicals were stored in some of the containers.
...
The fire broke out at around 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday and hundreds of firefighters, police and volunteers quickly arrived on the scene.

As they tried to extinguish the blaze a huge explosion rocked the site, engulfing many of the rescuers in flames and throwing debris and people into the air.



Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-61693778

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More, including video:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/5/16-killed-170-injured-in-bangladesh-container-depot-fire
https://www.dhakatribune.com/nation/2022/06/05/fire-at-bm-container-depot-in-chittagong

[TexasTowelie]

1. Thread that I posted in V&M:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017740569

[Turbineguy]

2. Containers of certain products

which can be benign by themselves can be dangerous when placed near each other.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Especially when badly labeled:

Officials said containers of hydrogen peroxide were labelled incorrectly - and firefighters doused flames with water instead of foam.
...
On Monday, officials revised down the initial death toll from 49 to 41, saying some bodies had been counted twice.

Hundreds of people were injured or are still listed as missing, and the number of dead is expected to rise.

Purnachandra Mutsuddi, an assistant director with the local firefighting service, told the AFP news agency that as soon as the firefighters entered the depot on Saturday they unwittingly doused the hydrogen peroxide with water, setting off an explosive reaction that sent "a container flying more than 500 feet".

"There are some rules to keep hydrogen peroxide. Had we known this, we would never throw water. We would never take our vehicle inside the depot," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-61702868

[Turbineguy]

5. Shippers are motivated to cheat

because shipping costs are based on commodity type.

[Stuart G]

4. K & R