The fire after the second explosion in the oil tanker Sagar Nandini-2 in Sugandha river in Jhalkathi has been extinguished after burning continuously for 10 hours.
The fire was extinguished at around 4:30 am on Tuesday (04 July), according to local journalists and fire service personnel.
Earlier, on Monday (July 03) around 6:30 pm, an explosion and fire occurred in the oil tanker named Sagar Nandini-2. At the time of the incident, the petrol on board was being removed to another oil tanker named Sagar Nandini-4.
A total of 14 people including staff and policemen on both ships were injured in the sudden incident. Besides, Sagar Nandini-4 could not be moved from the side of Sagar Nandini-2 due to the severity of the fire.
Later at 12 o’clock in the night, the Sagar Nandini-4 oil tanker was safely removed with the help of fire service personnel, said Shafiqul Islam, Station Officer of Jhalkathi Sadar Fire Station.
He said that throughout the night, 11 units of the fire service worked to extinguish the fire. Along with this, members of Coast Guard, Naval Police and Thana Police also cooperated in this work.
Locals say that the oil tanker named Sagar Nandini-2, which had already suffered an accident, was on the bank of the river near Rajapur village, just on the other side of Jhalkathi town. Another oil tanker named Sagar Nandini-4 was anchored next to it and was loading oil from the damaged vessel. However, the incident of fire that happened around 6:30 pm on Monday (July 03) was terrible.
But in the end, no one could tell how much oil was in the oil tanker named Sagar Nandini-2. However, the crew of Sagar Nandini-4 said most of the oil removal from the ship, Sagar Nandini-2, was completed. The incident occurred during the removal of the last four lakh liters of oil.
In the description of the incident, the injured said that they did not understand what happened suddenly. Some jumped into the river in fear. The two ships were anchored together.
Meanwhile, 14 people, including 10 policemen, were seriously injured in the second phase of the fire. Two of them, including a policeman, have been sent to the Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute in Dhaka in critical condition, Jhalkathi Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) said. Mohitul Islam
It is to be noted that around 2.30 pm on July 1, an oil tanker named Sagar Nandini-2 exploded and caught fire in the Sugandha river of Jhalkathi. On Monday (04 July), 1 hour after the end of the rescue operation, around 6:30 in the evening, another explosion and fire occurred on the same ship. And in this whole incident, four people have died so far and 19 people are seriously injured and are undergoing treatment in the hospital.
