Fire breaks out at Gazipur Square Pharma unit

A fire that had broken out at a new unit of the Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd at Kathalia under Kaliakoir upazila in Gazipur on Monday came under control after more than seven hours. 

A total of 19 fire service units brought the fire under control. The fire gutted huge amount of saline, raw materials of tablets, and chemicals at the factory. 

The fire flared up inside the factory's newly-introduced large-volume parenterals unit at around 12:15pm, Kaliakoir Fire Service Station officer Saiful Islam said. A total of 14 fire service units were trying to douse the fire. 

Three units of the Kaliakoir fire service station and 16 units of Mirzapur, Savar EPZ and other fire services were working to douse the flames. But the huge amount of liquid chemical, plastic and machineries have been producing black fumes making the dousing process slow. 

The authorities could not immediately confirm the cause of the fire.

When contacted, Square Pharmaceuticals Executive Director (Finance and Accounts) Kabir Reza told The Business Standard the fire fully damaged the company's Large Volume Parenterals (LVP) unit which mainly produces injectable saline.

No other product like tablet, capsule, or syrup will have any production or supply disruption due to the fire, he said.

The unit was temporarily off-production in the recent months due to an ongoing plant upgradation, the company was partly using the unit as its extended accounts office and all the vouchers and documents there have been burnt, he added.

The LVP building and machinery, like each of the adjacent ones within the complex, were under insurance coverage and the local insurers also reinsured the assets, said Reza.