A grave human tragedy unfolding in a gutted tyre factory near Dhaka

Remains of the Gazi auto tyre factory warehouse in Narayanganj, that continued to burn through August 27, 2024
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A massive fire that began on August 25 in one of the largest tyre factories of Bangladesh is turning out to be a great human tragedy. Located in the industrial township of Narayanganj near Dhaka, the Gazi auto tyre factory of Rupshi, owned by Golam Dastgir Gazi, chairman of the once powerful Gazi group, is well known in the area.

The fortune of the Gazi group began to change with the fall of the Hasina government on August 5. Mr. Gazi, who was the Minister of Textile and Jute under Ms. Hasina was arrested on August 25. He had earlier gone into hiding.

Some time after the news of Mr. Gazi’s arrest was telecast, a large crowd gathered from nearby areas and raided the main warehouse in the back of the tyre factory that had many items, including a large amount of inflammable liquid substances.

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The exact size of the crowd that raided the five-storied warehouse is not known. According to store assistant Russel Hossein, who spoke to The Hindu, the size of the crowd filled up the entire staircase of the warehouse, indicating that there were several hundred people, who had turned up to cart away the materials hoping to earn some cash by selling them in the nearby scrap market.

“I saw men, women and even children had turned up to take away wires, rubber sheets and canisters full of liquid items,” said Mr. Hossein, recollecting the evening of August 25.

As the people entered the warehouse, a fire began in the lower portion of the building, which trapped everyone upstairs. “We stood at a distance and it turned totally dark as large explosions were heard from inside the warehouse. No one could escape. The fire spread fast,” said Mr. Hossein. The irony was that the store assistants and guards like Mr. Hossein were reportedly beaten up by the crowd before they broke into the warehouse.

The news of fire in the Gazi auto tyre factory was telecast in the morning of August 26 by TV channels as an attack by miscreants on the Gazi group-owned facility. However soon, family members began to turn up outside the tall gates of the unit, which brought to attention of the fire service and the district authorities that the fire was more than an incident of massive arson.

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Sharyar Apu came to the factory in the evening of August 25, said his father Mohammed Umar Ali, who stood outside the facility for more than a day. Mr. Ali narrated to The Hindu that those who are missing are not labourers of the Gazi group.

“He had come here with his friends. They were young men,” recounted Mr. Ali, explaining that his son had come to the factory like many others that evening with the intention of taking items.

The multi-storied storage facility held sulphur, carbon black and unknown chemical agents that were supplied to other units of the Gazi group. Khadija Begum like Mr. Ali wept while narrating that her son-in-law had also come onto the premises with the crowd and has been missing since the evening of August 25.

Some of those who entered the Gazi auto tyre factory on August 25 and has been missing ever since had made brief phone calls, claiming that they were surrounded by fire and sought help. Nothing more has been heard about them.

Fire service officials and factory guards who met The Hindu claimed that the high intensity fire was fuelled by industry grade chemical agents that probably ignited because of careless handling by the raiding crowd which had broken into the facility after beating the guards and store keepers.

Till evening of Tuesday, the authorities maintained that at least 168 to 178 individuals had been missing because of the fire though wailing relatives outside the gate informed that the actual figure was much higher.

Mahmudul Haq, the District Collector who was controlling the emotionally charged crowd, said, “They literally rushed to commit suicide,” adding that strong policing could have prevented the tragedy from taking place.