Bangladesh Bank Fire: Electric short circuit may be to blame

The fire at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters may have originated from an electric short circuit in a room on the 13th floor, according to a fire service probe committee.

“We suspect that the fire originated from the outlet for an electric kettle,” said Samarendra Nath Biswas, head of the five-member committee formed by the Fire Service and Civil Defence, yesterday.

The kettle was at the office of the personal assistant to the head of the foreign exchange policy department, he said after visiting the floor.

“The socket of the electric kettle was found burnt,” he said, adding that the fire was not an act of sabotage.

The deputy director of the fire service department said the affected floor was sealed off and footage from closed-circuit camera was collected.

The probe team would talk to all officials working in the building tomorrow, he said.

A fire broke out on the floor around 9:30pm on Thursday night. Twelve firefighting units managed to douse the flames in an hour.

No one was hurt in the incident. However, some furniture and computers were damaged.

Two separate probe committees -- one from the fire service department and the other from the BB -- were formed the same night.

The BB committee, led by its Executive Director Ahmed Jamal, is likely to submit its report on March 28.

Samarendra-led committee has been asked to submit its findings within five working days.

Source: dailystar