2 explosions in 9 months: Is Sitakunda a risky locality?

Two catastrophic explosions and fires at industrial units in Chattogram's Sitakunda upazila in just nine months has raised some serious questions about the safety of the area's locals.

These industrial units have been set up quite close to localities, with not much thought given to safety measures.

The latest incident at Sheema Oxygen Plant has been blamed on the absence of workers' safety equipment and a lack of inspections of heavy machinery, said probe officials.

On June 4 last year, a fire and explosion at a private inland container depot (ICD) -- BM Container Depot -- at Keshabpur ward in Sonaichhari union, claimed the lives of 51 people and left more than 200 injured.

Last Saturday, exactly nine months later, at least six people were killed and over 25 injured after an explosion at Sheema Oxygen Plant in the same ward.

Among the six deceased, two people died after metal fragments from the blast flew and hit them at Kadamrusul Bazar and Saleh Carpet areas, both nearly a kilometre away from the site.

Sitakunda has frequently made headlines for accidents inside shipbreaking yards, steel re-rolling mills and other factories, but these two incidents (at BM Depot and Sheema Oxygen Plant) have adversely affected locals quite some distance from the sites.

The explosions in these two incidents damaged walls and window panes of houses located over a kilometre away from the site. Toxic fumes from the BM Depot fire also resulted in many residents complaining of health issues.

A total of 335 industrial units are currently now in operation in Barabkunda, Sonaichhari, Bhatiary and Fouzderhat areas of the upazila, which also has a population of around five lakh people.

In Sonaichhari union where both BM depot and Sheema Oxygen Plant are located, there are around 50 shipbreaking yards, 10 re-rolling mills, several oxygen plants and one LP gas plant, said Monir Ahmed, union parishad chairman. Most of these industries are located within residential areas.

"Previously we witnessed accidents inside factory premises. But now residents in nearby areas are also getting killed or injured," Monir said.

Salim Ullah, a resident of Kadamrusul area who was in the balcony of his rented house around half a kilometre from the oxygen plant during the blast, said he could feel the impact, as though a strong earthquake had hit.

He also said the place where the metal fragment landed and killed a person is not far from his house, and lamented on the insecurity of their existence. "My family is still panicked. I feel like we are sitting on bombs," he added.

Another resident of Keshabpur, Shamsul Alam, built a house around four years back just 500 feet away from Sheema Oxygen Plant. During last year's explosion at BM Depot, two window panes of the house were damaged. He recently completed repairs to those houses a month back.

But on Saturday, metal fragments from this latest blast hit different parts of his house damaging the walls, main gate and window panes.

"Just this morning I noticed that the wall on the ground floor was also cracked," said Shamsul.

Sitakunda Upazila Chairman SM Al Mamun said most of these industries were set up in an unplanned manner and are located close to residential areas.

"Such heavy industries should be located inside the special economic zones that the government is developing now," he added.

The upazila chairman also said regular monitoring by authorities concerned to ensure proper safety measures in these factories is necessary to avert such deadly accidents.