Staff Correspondent

Home Advisor Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has taken part in the funeral prayers for firefighter Shoyanur Zaman Nayan, who was run over and killed by a truck while taking part in the efforts to tame the blaze at the Secretariat.

Nayan was brought to Dhaka due to his professional skills and his death was, in a way, due to the ‘negligence’ of the administration, Jahangir said in his remarks to the media afterwards.

The funeral prayers for Nayan were held at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters in Dhaka’s Bangabazar at 2pm on Thursday. Before that, Fire Service personnel and the home advisor paid their respects at the coffin with flowers.
Mohammad Khalid Mansur, chief of Shahbagh Police Station, said that a case is being processed against Sumon, 35, and Farhad, 20, over the incident.

A reporter asked Jahangir whether the fire at the Secretariat was a ‘failure’ of the home ministry. He responded:

“One of ours is dead. That is our failure. Many people will forget this, but his parents will not. We will make sure that we do what needs to be done in order to ensure that his parents are well.”

Another journalist said that an advisor and a leader of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement were seeing a ‘conspiracy’ behind the fire and asked whether the home minister shared their views.

“I cannot say anything before an investigation is carried out,” he said.

“We have formed a high-powered investigation committee. When the findings of the committee are made available, we will know how the fire started.

In response to another question, he said:

“I cannot say how long it should have taken to put out the fire. It depends on the water supply. There are many obstacles.”

“But they all tried their best. Nineteen Fire Service units worked together. As a result, it was brought under control.

After the funeral prayers, the home advisor spoke to Nayan’s parents.

Nayan joined the fire brigade as a firefighter in the 61st Batch in 2022. He hailed from Atpania village in Rangpur’s Mithapukur Upazila. The 24-year-old is the younger of two siblings.