10 workers burnt in fire at Chattogram salt factory, 8 critical

Ten workers suffered burn injuries after a fire reportedly broke out from an electrical short circuit while they were working at the Confidence Salt factory in Chattogram’s Boalkhali upazila.

All of them were admitted to the burn unit of Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Eight of the injured workers are in critical condition, hospital authorities said.

The workers were admitted to CMCH around 11am today (16 July).

SI Alauddin of the CMCH police outpost said the fire broke out suddenly from an electrical short circuit while workers were working at the Confidence Salt factory in the West Gomdandi area of Boalkhali municipality.

Ten workers were burnt in the incident and later rescued and taken to the burn unit of CMCH, he said.

Hospital sources said Didarul Alam, 32, suffered 95% flame burns with inhalation injury, while Mohammad Alam, 45, suffered 65%, Mahamudul Haque, 45, 60%, Ujjal Das, 53, 50%, Nur Nabi, 25, 45%, Mohammad Liton, 28, 40%, Mohammad Zahid Hossain, 38, 35%, and Selim Uddin, 30, 20% flame burns, all with inhalation injuries.

Zahidul Alam, 42, and Sirajul Islam, 34, suffered 10% flame burns each with suspected inhalation injuries.

CMCH Director Brigadier General Mohammad Taslim Uddin confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.

“Eight of them are in critical condition. The remaining two are stable and will be released after primary treatment,” he said.

Azharul Islam, an official of Boalkhali Upazila Fire Service and Civil Defence, told The Business Standard, “We received information about the fire at 10:10am and reached the spot at 10:30am. We did not find any active fire there, but found smoke from some burnt papers.”

“Fire service personnel worked for five to seven minutes before leaving the scene. The factory authorities told us the fire had started from an electrical short circuit. We did not find any injured workers at the spot when we arrived,” he added.

Fire Service and relevant authorities are working to determine the exact cause of the fire and the extent of damage.