Fire at Dhaka Airport Halts Operations, 11 Flights Diverted
A fire broke out at the cargo terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon, prompting authorities to temporarily suspend all flight operations and divert a total of 11 flights to Chattogram and Sylhet airports. Among them were nine international and two domestic flights.
Md Masudul Hasan Masud, a representative of the airport’s executive director, confirmed in a statement around 3:30pm that all operations at HSIA had been temporarily suspended following the incident. According to the Fire Service and Civil Defence, the fire was reported around 2:30pm, and firefighting efforts were underway throughout the evening.
In Chattogram, Shah Amanat International Airport received eight diverted flights, according to its public relations officer Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil. He said that two domestic flights originally en route from Chattogram to Dhaka were forced to return, while two international flights—one US-Bangla Airlines flight from Bangkok and one Air Arabia flight from the Middle East—landed in Chattogram. Four additional international flights, two operated by US-Bangla Airlines and two by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, were also redirected there later in the evening.
“All aircraft landed safely, and operations at Shah Amanat International Airport are running smoothly,” Khalil confirmed.
Meanwhile, three international flights were rerouted to Osmani International Airport in Sylhet, according to local officials. These included one Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight from Riyadh and two US-Bangla Airlines flights arriving from Singapore and Malaysia. Sylhet Airport Director Hafiz Ahmed stated that as of 7:00pm, no further flights had been diverted there.
Talha Bin Zasim, Station Officer at the Fire Service Media Cell, said that 37 firefighting units were deployed by 6:00pm and were actively working to bring the blaze under control. No casualties have been reported so far, and the cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed.
