7-member committee formed to probe Secretariat fire

The government has formed a seven-member committee to probe the fire that broke out at Building No. 7 of the Secretariat at the capital early on Thursday. 

An office order issued from the Cabinet Division confirmed the matter. 

According to the order, Additional Secretary (District and Field Administration) Mohammad Khaled Rahim would lead the probe committee. 

The committee was ordered to submit the probe report within the next seven workdays. 

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. 

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.

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 fire fighting units to put out the flames.

Two platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been deployed at the site after the fire broke out, said a short message from the BGB.

The cause of the fire had not yet been identified.