Initial report says loose electrical connection was responsible
The committee formed on December 26 to probe the fire incident in the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital Dhaka on the same day in its preliminary report on Tuesday said that a loose electrical connection caused the fire and the probe body did not find involvement of any persons in the incident.
鈥榃e reached a consensus in our initial probe that the fire originated from a loose electrical connection,鈥� said the committee head, home affairs ministry senior secretary Nasimul Gani, on Tuesday evening.
鈥榃e did not find involvement of any persons in this incident,鈥� he said.
He made the statements at a press briefing held in front of the State House Jamuna in the capital.
Before the briefing, the聽 committee members handed over the report to chief adviser Muhammad Yunus at about 5:00pm.
The fire that broke out in a building at the secretariat, the administrative headquarters of the government, early December 26 burned offices and documents of five ministries 鈥撯�� local government, rural development and co-operatives ministry, post and telecommunication ministry, youth and sports ministry, labour and employment ministry and road transport and bridges ministry, official sources said.
Nasimul, however, said on Tuesday that they found that the documents kept inside the offices of the affected ministries were not burnt.
The fire spread from the 6th floor to the 9th floor of the building with each floor having 40鈥�50 rooms.
Following the incident, the government formed the eight-member committee and asked it to submit a preliminary report by Monday.
The committee took permission from the Cabinet Division on Monday for the extension of the timeframe till Tuesday for testing some more evidences.
Nasimul Gani at the briefing on Tuesday said that several teams comprising experts from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Fire Service and Civil Defence, Bangladesh Army鈥檚 bomb disposal squad, Criminal Investigation Department and dog squad were involved in the probe.
The affected ministries were asked to determine their damage independently, he said, a public works department team was also working to find out the physical damage of the building due to the fire.
Replying to a question, the senior secretary said that before the submission of the final report he could not say the amount of the losses the fire caused.
Committee member former BUET professor Md Maksud Helali said that they would test some more evidences in and outside the country to enrich the report which was prepared with the help of different agencies.
He said that as per video footage, the fire originated between 1:32am and 1:39am.
The flame rose vertically and the smoke went outside due to a tunnel system of the secretariat from the west side, which made it appeared that the fire was at the two sides of the building at the same time, he said.
The source of the fire was one, he said, and added that within 12 to 14 minutes the fire spread vertically and became very difficult to douse.
Electrical connections should be checked and maintained regularly, he added.
Committee member Brigadier General Muhammad Zaheed Kamal, also director general of the Fire Service, said that due to interior design of the building, the fire spread heavily.
Chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam said that the chief adviser listened to the committee members for an hour and asked for long-term recommendations with the report to prevent reoccurrence of this type of fire.
As per a preliminary assessment of the public works department, the fire-affected Building 7 at the Bangladesh Secretariat is repairable.
The affected offices were relocated temporarily to different departments.
A firefighter was killed and four others were injured in a road accident during operations to extinguish the fire.