Sohel Rana Babu Bagerhat Correspondent

A fire has broken out again in the world heritage Sundarbans. The fire incident occurred on Saturday (March 22) morning in the Teperbil area under the Kalmteji Forest Patrol Outpost of the Chandpai Range of the East Forest Division of Bagerhat. Fires are burning sporadically in different parts of the forest. Forest guards and locals are trying to control the fire by cutting the drain (fire lane). A unit of the Fire Service of Sharankhola Upazila left for the spot around 3 pm. After that, three more units of the Fire Service from Mongla Morelganj and Kachua also left for the Sundarbans to put out the fire. However, till the time of writing the airport report (4:30 pm), the Sundarbans Division could not confirm the cause of the fire and the extent of the forest fire.

Earlier, on May 4, 2024, a fire broke out in the 'Latifer Chila' area of the Amurbunia forest in the Chandpai range in the Sundarbans, burning down 7.98 acres of forest. In addition to multiple units of the Forest Department, Fire Service and Air Force helicopters participated in controlling the fire to extinguish the fire. The fire caused a loss of 11 lakh 58 thousand 250 taka to the forest. This information is known from the report of the Forest Department's investigation committee.

Forester Bipuleshwar Das, Dhansagar Station Officer of the Chandpai Range of the East Sundarbans in Bagerhat, said on his mobile phone that around 7 am, villagers near the forest saw a plume of smoke from the forest in the area called Teperbil under the jurisdiction of the Kalmteji patrol outpost. Later, when they reached the forest office and informed about this, the forest guards rushed to the spot with the people. To control the fire that broke out about three kilometers inside the forest, they have started cutting drains in the fire area. So that the fire does not spread to a large area of the forest. The fire site is about three kilometers away from the forest office. There is no source of water nearby. The distance to the nearest canal in the forest is also two and a half kilometers from the scene. If the tide rises, they will try to provide water by water using a pump machine. After informing the Sharankhola Fire Service, they left. Then three more units of Mongla, Morelganj and Kachua Fire Service left for the Sundarbans to put out the fire. The matter of the fire has been informed to the higher authorities of the Forest Department.

Panna Mia, former UP member of Dhansagar Union of Sharankhola Upazila, said that people saw smoke rising from the forest in the Teperbil area of the Sundarbans around 7 am on Saturday and informed him. The matter was immediately reported to the Dhansagar station officer. Aftab Alam, the officer-in-charge of Sharankhola Fire Service Station, said that they left around 3 pm after receiving the information. In addition, three more units of the fire service from Morelganj, Mongla and Kachua have also been informed. These three units are also on their way to the scene to put out the fire.

Kazi Muhammad Nurul Karim, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the East Sundarbans Division of Bagerhat, said that efforts are being made to control the fire in the Sundarbans. He could not immediately provide more information. I have left for the scene. I will provide more details after receiving information.