Fire at Rangpur power station

Production at Rangpur's 20MW gas turbine power station has remained suspended since early Thursday after a fire erupted there. It took seven firefighting units two hours to extinguish the fire that broke out around 2:30am after a turbine exploded at the power station in Darshana Balapara. The cause of the blaze and extent of damage could not be ascertained immediately. Bangladesh Power Development Board operates the diesel-run plant. The explosion created panic among the locals who rushed out of homes and moved to safety. Manager of the power station Moazzem Hossain said: “We assume that the fire might have been triggered by a ruptured oil pipe.” The plant needs around 7,000 litres of diesel per hour for production. He said that details about the damage would be known after an inspection by experts. Moazzem also could not confirm how long it may take to resume production.