Advisers Jahangir, Adilur Visit Fire-Damaged Secretariat Building

Home Adviser Major General (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and Housing and Public Works Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan on Thursday visited the fire-damaged building at the Secretariat in the capital.

High officials including Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser (CA) Khoda Baksh Chowdhury, Public Works Secretary M Hamidur Rahman Khan and Labour Secretary AHM Shafiquzzaman were present, among others.

Previously, the FSCD was alerted to the fire around 1:52am. After the efforts of 18 firefighting units, the fire on the building's sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth floors was brought under control after nearly six hours. 

Initially, eight fire engines started working to douse the flames, but later, 11 more units joined the efforts.

The fire was brought under control at 8:05am, six hours after it started. It was fully doused at 11:45am, Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) official Talha bin Jashim confirmed. 

Firefighter Sohanur Rahman Nayon of Tejgaon Fire Station was killed while attempting to douse the fire as a truck hit him in front of the Secretariat, Shajahan said.

Military, police, and Armed Police Battalion (APBN) assisted the firefighting units to put out the flames.

Two platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed at the site after the fire broke out, according to a short message from the BGB.

The cause of the fire had not yet been identified.

The fire-damaged building also houses different public offices including the Internal Resources Division (IRD), Financial Institutions Division(FID), Post and Telecommunications and Information Technology, Labour and Employment, Youth and Sports, Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives and Road Transport and Bridges Division.