Fire at Boalkhali Paper Mill Causes Estimated Tk20 Million in Damage

A fire at Hakkani Paper and Board Mills in Chattogram's Boalkhali damaged machinery, electrical cables and waste paper worth an estimated Tk20 million, according to factory and fire service officials.

The fire broke out at around 1pm in the media waste warehouse of Unit-2 at the factory in the East Kalurghat area.

Two firefighting units from Boalkhali and Kalurghat responded to the incident and brought the blaze under control after nearly three hours, preventing it from spreading to other parts of the factory. Machinery, electrical cables and waste paper stored in a section of the warehouse were damaged.

Ashraful Mowla, the factory's admin manager, said workers noticed smoke coming from the western corner of the waste warehouse around noon. Workers and factory officials initially attempted to extinguish the fire before notifying the Fire Service.

Alok Chakma, sub-officer of Boalkhali Fire Service, said two units took part in the firefighting operation.

"The fire was brought under control after nearly three hours of efforts," he said.

The exact cause of the fire has not been determined. A preliminary assessment indicated that an electrical short circuit may have triggered the blaze, according to Chakma.

Paltu Kanti Barua, president of the Hakkani Paper and Board Mills Workers' Union, said several expensive machines and electrical cables were destroyed, along with a quantity of waste paper.

Officials who visited the site included Fire Service Deputy Assistant Director of the Agrabad division Atish Chakma, Boalkhali Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mozafor Hossain, factory Managing Director Golam Sarwar and Fire Service inspector Arjun Barua.