The fire on the oil tanker OT Sagar Nandini-2 was completely extinguished in the early hours of Tuesday after burning for over eleven hours in its second outbreak.
Among the eleven injured individuals affected by the incident, two police personnel with burn injuries have been transferred to Dhaka for advanced medical treatment.
During a press briefing held at Jhalakathi Municipal Mini-park on Tuesday afternoon, Lieutenant Colonel Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, stated that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the oil tanker crew.
Dhaka TribuneMeanwhile, Dr Khairuzzaman Majumdar, secretary of the Ministry of Power Energy and Mineral Resources, stated that an investigation committee, headed by the director general of the Department of Explosives, has been formed to determine the root cause of the incident.
Dr Majumdar further mentioned plans to construct a marine fire station in Jhalakathi, as the Sugandya River serves as an important trade route and Jhalakathi is a significant business centre.
Feroze Kutubi, deputy director of Jhalakathi Fire Service and Civil Defence, reported that the second explosion occurred while fuel was being transferred from OT Sagar Nandini-2 to Sagar Nandini-4, which was anchored on the Sugandha River opposite Jhalakathi district town, at around 6:30pm on Monday.
Twelve units of the Fire Service, along with the Coast Guard, Marine Police, and BIWTA, collaborated to control the flames. The fire was finally extinguished at 6am on Tuesday, as stated by the Fire Service official.
Among the individuals injured in the second blast were police constables Shawkat, Dweep, Palash Mollah, Mehdi, Naqeeb, Saiful, Lipan Gain, ASI Ganesh, SI Abdul Hakim, Naik Siddique, SI Mustafa Kamal, ATSI Helal Uddin, and ship crew members Showkat and Qaiyum.
Two of the injured police constables, Showkat Jamil, 24, and Deep Samaddar, 25, who serve in Jhalakathi Police Lines, were transported from Barisal SBMCH to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka early Tuesday morning via two ambulances.
The ship's captain, Showkat Hossain, is receiving treatment at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital, while the others are being treated at Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital, as confirmed by Mohitul Islam, additional superintendent of police at Jhalakathi Sadar Circle.
Feroze Kutubi mentioned that after utilizing all the foam resources available in the Barisal division for marine fire-fighting, additional foam was brought from Khulna.
A fire service team from Dhaka arrived at the scene on Tuesday night and employed modern technology to control the fire. After a night-long effort using foam, the fire was brought under control in the early morning.
On July 1, an explosion occurred in the engine room of Sagar Nandini-2, anchored in the Sugandha River, resulting in the deaths of four individuals, including employee Abdus Salam Hridoy, master in charge Ruhul Amin Khan, supervisor Masudur Rahman Belal, and driver Sarwar Hossain. Five other crew members sustained burn injuries during the initial explosion.
