‘Experts from four countries to probe HSIA fire’

Bangla Press Desk:  The government has invited experts from four countries – the United King-dom, Australia, China and Turkey – to investigate the fire incident at the cargo village area of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).

Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury shared the infor-mation with reporters after inspecting the fire-ravaged cargo village and e-gate area at the airport around 11:45am on Saturday.

The adviser said the expert teams will examine the site to determine whether any mismanagement caused the fire. “If any evidence of negligence is found, strict action will be taken against those responsible,” he warned.

At the time, Jahangir defended the airport authorities, saying the fire spread quickly because of the presence of chemical and garment materials in the facility. The airport’s own firefighting team reached the scene within 30 seconds of re-ceiving the report and immediately began operations, he added.

On 18 October, a fire broke out at the HSIA cargo village, which took nearly 27 hours to bring under control.

A joint effort by 37 units of the Fire Service, police, Ansar, RAB, APBN, Bangladesh Air Force and Bangladesh Navy finally extinguished the blaze on 19 October.

Jahangir Alam also said discussions are underway to make the electronic gate (e-gate) at the airport operational soon, assuring that the government will take steps to reduce passport-related difficulties for expatriate workers.

He also mentioned that the issue of lowering passport fees for migrant workers is under consideration.

BP/SP