Foreign Experts From Four Countries to Investigate Airport Fire: Home Adviser

Home Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury today said that experts from four foreign countries — England, Australia, China, and Turkey — have been invited to investigate the devastating fire at the Cargo Village of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka.

“We have invited four countries to investigate and determine whether there was any mismanagement,” he told journalists after inspecting the fire site at the airport.

The Home Adviser said specialists from England, Australia, China, and Turkey will identify the cause of the fire and those responsible for the incident through a thorough investigation.

He noted that four fire engines from the Civil Aviation authority reached the spot within 30 seconds of the blaze breaking out, while Fire Service and Civil Defence teams arrived within 20 minutes.

The fire spread rapidly due to the presence of flammable materials, he said, adding that the nature of those materials and the surrounding conditions made it difficult to bring the blaze under control quickly.

When asked about the delay in extinguishing the fire, the Home Adviser said, “We did not fail — the fire was successfully brought under control, although it took longer than expected.”

The airport resumed operations within a few hours, reopening at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday.

The fire, which started at the Cargo Village — where imported goods are stored — around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, was brought under full control after nearly 27 hours of intense efforts, at 4:55 p.m. on Sunday.

The Home Adviser also reiterated that the government is working to reduce passport fees for expatriate workers, whom he described as “remittance warriors.”