A fire broke out at Bangladesh Secretariat on Dec 26 originated from an electrical spark, according to the initial report of a high-powered probe body formed to investigate the fire. "It is visible in the CCTV footage that the fire was started by an electrical spark. Usually, electrical sparks occur due to loose connections in sockets and plugs, faulty joints in cables and oxidation on contact surfaces, etc," the report says. The eight-member probe body submitted its primary report to Chief Adviser Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka on Tuesday (Dec 31).
The report revealed that the sparks caused smoke and fire in the area adjacent to the sparks, which gradually turned into flashovers. This was a devastating fire and most of the evidences of the incinerated debris were damaged by the flow of water used to extinguish such blazes.
Since there was no fire detection system in the building, the inferno could not be detected at "incipient and growth stages", the probe report says.
During the probe, using the three modern detection devices – Portable Explosive Trace Detector-UK, Itemizer Explosive Trace Detector-Germany and Mass Spectrometer-USA, an expert team of Bangladesh Army examined the fire to know whether any type of explosives was used. But the team did not find the presence of explosives, the report says.
