Eight flights have so far landed at Chattogram’s Shah Amanat Airport instead of Dhaka due to a fire at the import goods warehouse of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport,
According to the Chattogram airport authorities, the flights were diverted after the fire broke out around 2:30pm today, Saturday.
Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, spokesperson for Shah Amanat Airport, told Prothom Alo on Saturday afternoon that among the eight flights that landed in Chattogram, two were domestic flights from Chattogram to Dhaka. Of the remaining six, one was coming from Bangkok and another from the Middle East, both originally scheduled to land in Dhaka. The other four were also international flights. All of these flights landed in Chattogram instead of Dhaka.
According to Talha Bin Jasim, an official from the Fire Service’s media cell, the fire broke out at the Cargo Village near Gate 8 of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported that two fire units from the Bangladesh Air Force, along with the Fire Service and Bangladesh Civil Aviation, are working to bring the fire under control. The Navy has also joined the firefighting efforts, ISPR added.
Following the incident, authorities temporarily suspended all flight operations at the airport. As a result, aircraft en route to Dhaka’s Shahjalal Airport landed in Chattogram instead.