Sitakunda Blast
It was an accident, don’t blame us: director of Seema Group
"We submitted all of the necessary paperworks to the relevant authorities last night. Our explosive license, fire license, and other papers and documents are up to date and in order. We also had fire-fighting equipment in the factory"
Seema Group Director Md Najim Uddin today said the last night's blast in Chattogram's Seema Oxygen Plant Limited -- which killed six people -- was an accident and not the fault of the plant.
"All the killed and injured persons are our locals. Our papers are up to date. It was an accident during operation. Please don't blame us," the director told The Daily Star this morning.
Najim also said the allegation made against them by the administration that factory owners were missing is not true.
"We were occupied caring for the injured in various hospitals. Our first priority was to rush the injured to the hospital to save their lives and we did that," said Najim.
Najim also said they will bear all the treatment cost of the injured and financially support the family of the deceased.
Seema Group owns Seema Oxygen Plant Limited. A mid-level heavy industry company, Seema Group operates an oxygen factory, steel rerolling mills, and shipbreaking yards.
The organisation's founder was the late Md Shafi. His sons are now in charge of the company.
Arif Siddique, human resources manager of Seema Steel, told The Daily Star, "From the oxygen plant, we used to generate industrial oxygen by separating oxygen from natural air. We have another oxygen plant named Seema Oxygen Oxico Ltd."
"We submitted all of the necessary paperworks to the relevant authorities last night. Our explosive license, fire license, and other papers and documents are up to date and in order. We also had fire-fighting equipment in the factory."
Six people were killed and at least 30 others injured in an explosion at an industrial oxygen plant in Sitakunda, Chattogram, yesterday afternoon.
The explosion at Seema Oxygen Plant in the Keshabpur area rocked nearby neighbourhoods around 4:40pm. The roof of the building of the main plant was blown off and large chunks of steel and iron flew in all directions, damaging numerous buildings and vehicles.