After a fire broke out at the cargo village of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday (October 18), importers have become deeply concerned about the damage to their goods.
The fire was brought under control after nearly six hours of firefighting late in the night, but smoke was still visible around the cargo village until noon. Fire service personnel continue to work on fully extinguishing the fire and recovering the goods.
Worried importers and C&F (Clearing and Forwarding) agents have been in constant contact with each other to assess the losses. Alal Ahmed, a representative of Ruhul International, said around $40,000 worth of goods from their company were completely destroyed. Mosharraf Hossain from SR International reported that nearly 10,000 kg of Vivo mobile spare parts and other goods were lost, estimating total damages at around 100 crore taka.
The cargo village primarily handles imports of light machinery, electronics, ready-made garments, samples, small quantities of accessories, documents, and parcels. While export goods were not affected, some domestic and international flights had to be diverted. During the rescue operation, 25 Ansar personnel were injured and sent to CMH and Kurmitola General Hospital. Flight operations at the airport have now returned to normal.