In an unprecedented case, a six-member team of Turkish investigators drawn from the country’s special police and disaster management experts on Monday (October 27) began a probe into the massive October 18 fire that destroyed the main cargo terminal at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shah Jalal International airport.
The Bangladesh government had taken a decision, immediately in the wake of the fire, to allow investigators from four countries, including China, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Australia, to probe the circumstances under which the fire broke out and whether sabotage was involved.
About 18 tons of costly equipment for the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Pabna, communications gadgets and other unspecified imported cargo were destroyed in the fire, even as there is some evidence to indicate that the airport’s fire tenders were withheld from entering the zone where the fire broke out for at least 25-30 minutes.
The Turkish team, which lodged itself at Dhaka’s Inter-Continental Hotel after its arrival on October 26, comprises Fourth Degree Chief Superintendent of Police Necdet Serkan Bayir, Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency Director Mehmet Emin Kocan, and Fire Fighting Department experts Selcuk Yilma, Gurkan Ozcan and Ahmet Tayfun Oksin.
Earlier, Bangladesh Home Ministry Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury had sought to clear the air over mismanagement at the cargo terminal, claiming that investigators from the four countries would be allowed to probe whether there were any shortcomings on the part of airport security staff or the fire-fighting department.
Among Bangladesh’s business sectors, the readymade garments industry is said to have suffered heavy losses in the fire. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) had estimated that the cumulative losses to garments-related imports stood at nearly $1 billion. This, BGMEA representatives said, could potentially cripple the garments export trade.
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However, what has remained a closely guarded secret is the financial loss arising out of the destruction caused by the fire to about 18 tons of equipment that was imported for installation at the Rooppur nuclear power plant. Neither Bangladeshi probe agencies nor ROSATOM, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Commission.
