A fire that broke out at Unitex’s cotton warehouse in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila yesterday morning was brought under control early today after around 16 hours.

However, nine firefighting units are still at the warehouse in Chhoto Kumira area working to make sure there are no flames anywhere, Md Nurul Alam Dulal, senior station officer of Sitakunda Fire Service told The Daily Star this morning.

“The fire was brought under control between 2:00 and 2:30 in the early morning. Water is still being sprayed inside the warehouse to put out any remaining fire. We’ll soon declare complete control,” he said.

“Bulldozers were used to destroy the interior walls and scatter the cotton,” he added.

Touhidul Islam, deputy assistant commissioner of the Chattogram district administration, said all visible signs of the fire was “extinguished” by 7:00am, but there was still smoke.

“At 7:00 am, members of fire service, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Air Force, Bangladesh Navy, and BGB extinguished the fire. Smoke is still present, so the fire department is still at work. It has not yet been declared that the fire is doused,” he added.

The fire broke out around 10:30am yesterday at the warehouse near Nemson Container Depot in the Chhoto Kumira area of Sitakunda.

Fire Service and administration officials said that the fire started from a welding spark.