Documents of at least five ministries and divisions have been burned as fires ravaged part of Building-7 of the Secretariat for almost 10 hours. The fires were seen around 1:52am in two parts of the nine-storey building within the highly secured Secretariat complex.
Around 2:15am, a firefighter setting up hose pipes was run over and killed by a truck on Abdul Gani Road, which had not been closed to traffic then.
As officials are trying to determine the cause of fires, many have expressed suspicion that it was an act of sabotage.
In the morning, Adviser Asif Mahmud wrote on Facebook, "We were working on uncovering the embezzlement and corruption that happened in the past at the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, and Cooperatives. Evidence of a misappropriation of several thousand crore taka had been found. The extent of damage caused by the fire is not known. Those involved in this conspiracy to undermine our efforts will not be spared."
Asif told reporters in the evening that documents of those financial irregularities had been burned, adding that those records could still be found at the administration offices in the districts.
Documents at the ministries of local government, labour, and sports and the divisions of telecommunications and highways were fully or partially damaged, he said at the Foreign Service Academy.
THE FIRES
Seven firefighters from the Secretariat Fire Station were the first responders.
"We reached the spot after being informed… and found the scissor gate of the building locked. We cut the padlock and rushed to the fifth floor where the fire was burning. There, we saw another locked scissor gate. We cut that padlock too and saw the fires burning at three places.
"We started spraying water on the west side of the building as that fire was larger. Later, other units started arriving. We also saw flames in the electric cable duct," one of them said.
Before daybreak, 19 fire engines rushed to the spot, but only 10 could work simultaneously because the remaining trucks could not enter the premises.
The blazes were put out around 11:45am, officials said.
Firefighters who visited the building later in the day said water and ash were everywhere.
Most rooms on the top four floors had been fully or partially destroyed, said several officers who are not authorised to talk to reporters.
Everything inside most of the rooms has been reduced to ashes, and in places, wall plasters had come off.
Ministries and divisions on the five bottom floors were partially damaged only by the water sprayed by firefighters, not the fire itself.
Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence Brigadier General Muhammad Jahed Kamal told reporters at the scene that most of the rooms were locked, making the firefighters' job harder.
The fire service had earlier urged the authorities to widen the entrance to the Secretariat complex, said an official, adding that the plea fell on deaf ears.
Four firefighters were injured at the scene, officials said.
Many officials and employees of the Secretariat arrived early in the morning after learning about the fires.
Most of them left after 12:30pm. Only Gate-5 was opened for them.
"There is no electricity in most of the buildings. Although the work hours have not ended, we are leaving," said an officer of the disaster management ministry.
Home Adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the cause of the fire can be confirmed after probes are done.
PROBE BODIES
A seven-member committee headed by Mohammad Khaled Rahim, additional secretary (district administration) of the Cabinet Division, was formed to find the cause of the fires, whether anyone was responsible, assess the damage, and make recommendations to prevent future incidents.
The committee has been asked to come up with a report in seven days.
Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan told a press conference at Foreign Service Academy that another high-powered committee, headed by the home secretary, had been asked to investigate and make a primary report in three days.
The final report will be made public, she said, "We will have to wait for the probe report to know whether it was a human made disaster or not."
Home Adviser Jahangir said around 560 people, including law enforcers, work in shifts to ensure security at the precinct.
Several advisers visited the building.
Students Against Discrimination, a platform that spearheaded the July mass uprising, termed the fires an act of sabotage orchestrated by corrupt bureaucrats who are allies of the previous regime.
This was an attempt to undermine the goals of the uprising and stall ongoing reforms, it said in a statement.
Bangladesh Administrative Service Association called the fire an act of unprecedented arson.
Supporters of Sheikh Hasina's regime still work at the Secretariat. An investigation should be undertaken to find out if they were involved in any way, said a press release from the association.
It must be investigated whether the fires were caused by those trying to destabilise the government.
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