A terrible fire took place in 'S Alam Refined Sugar Industries', a sugar factory owned by S Alam Group, one of the industrial groups of the country. The market value of one lakh raw sugar is around Tk 714 crore.
S Alam Refined Sugar Mill is near 11 MW S Alam Power Plant in Ichanagar of Chittagong's Karnaphuli Police Station. The production activities of the sugar factory are run with the electricity of the power plant. The daily refining capacity of this factory is 2200 tonnes. A fire broke out in the warehouse of S Alam Refined Sugar Mill, burning one lakh tonnes of unrefined sugar. Due to this reason, S Alam Group, assured that there will be no impact on the sugar market during the upcoming Ramadan.
On Monday afternoon, a fire broke out in this sugar warehouse, which had one lakh tonnes of unrefined sugar.
When asked about the burnt warehouseon Tuesday afternoon, Mohammad Hosain, Human Resources and HR Manager of S Alam Group, said, "The fire broke out on Monday afternoon, which is yet to be fully extinguished."
How the fire started and the extent of the damage, we cannot say now. But I can confirm it, the market will not be affected. We still have about 10-15 days of finished (refined) sugar on hand.
15 units of the fire service brought the fire under control around 10:30 pm after about six and a half hours of effort. But even on Tuesday afternoon it was not completely extinguished.
It is learnt that a total of 400,000 tonnes of raw sugar was stored in four warehouses of the mill in view of the upcoming Ramadan.
After refining, that sugar is supposed to go to the market. Among them, one lakh tonnes of sugar in No. 1 warehouse was burnt.
He said, “We will return to the market in a few days. We have 6-7 lakh tonnes of sugar in our pipeline. Only one warehouse was burnt. There are four more warehouses. There will be no impact on the market.
There was a fire in the warehouse which contained one lakh tonnes of sugar. The sugar was imported from Brazil. There is much more sugar than the amount of sugar required for month of fasting. Another warehouse of finished sugar is also remains intact.
Abdullah Harun Pasha, Deputy Assistant Director of Agrabad Fire Service said, the sugar warehouse was full.
The fire in the warehouse, which is as tall as a five-storey building, was not under control, but it has reduced a lot.
He said that the number of workers in sugar mill and power plant is about one thousand.A few days ago, a fire broke out at a cold storage under construction owned by S Alam Group near Bakolia Access Road in the city.
A 13-member Air Force team led by Flight Lieutenant Habib of the Bangladesh Air Force Zahrul Haque Base joined the firefighting operation. Besides, RAB-07, Navy, Army, CMP Police and several teams of law and order forces are cooperating in controlling the fire.
Officials of the factory said that around one lakh metric tonnes of raw materials were stored in the warehouse for refining to supply the market during Ramadan. Almost all the sugar was burnt in the fire. No one could say for sure what caused the fire.
However, the factory officials believe that the fire may have started from an electrical short circuit.
Karnaphuli Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Zahir Hossain said that after receiving information about the fire at the sugar mill on Monday, the fire service is working to bring the fire under control. Police have also been deployed at the spot. Besides, there are upazila administration officials and RAB.
Eyewitnesses said that immediately after the fire, the warehouse of the sugar factory was engulfed in flames and smoke. The fire service personnel tried hard to control the fire. The flames spread panic in the surrounding area.
