Army: Clearing Tampaco debris will take more than a month

A team of the Bangladesh Army has joined rescue operation at the packaging factory of Tampaco Foils Ltd which was ravaged by a massive fire on Saturday. Members of army's 14 Independent Engineering Brigade, led by Lt Col Shofiul Alam, started working at the site on Monday morning with heavy machinery, said Gazipur Fire Service Deputy Assistant Director Aktaruzzaman. Brig Gen ASM Mahmud Hasan, commander of 14 Engineering Corps, said the amount of garbage at Tampaco was much more than that of Rana Plaza. “It may take more than a month to clear the garbage,” he told reporters. Mahmud said they would start full-fledged operations from Wednesday, a day after the Eid-ul-Azha. A fire swept through the food and cigarette packaging factory on Saturday following a massive explosion. Some 100 workers were working at the factory at that time. It took nearly 36 hours to extinguish the fire. Death toll now stands at 33 with the retrieval of four more bodies on Monday. The industrial disaster was Bangladesh's worst since the 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza that killed over 1,100 people. Tampaco Chairman Syed Makbul Hussain, a former MP, has been accused in a case over the incident. Brig Gen Mahmud said they did not have experience in working with chemicals like ethyl stored in drums at the collapsed factory building. He said they would leave the ethyl drums alone and remove other debris. Fire service members, police, Gazipur district administration, and the city corporation and assisting the army in the rescue.