Fire in Sundarbans forest again

Barely a month in the passing, fire broke out again in the Sundarbans’ Chandpai range this morning.

The fire originated in Abdullah Chila area – adjacent to Nangli forest camp in Chandpai range, our Bagerhat correspondent reports quoting Belayet Hossain, local forest conservator.

Last reported, forest workers were trying to douse the flames. Firefighters were yet to reach the spot.

Three weeks ago, a devastating fire in the Chandpai range gutted, what officials said, 1.66 acres of forest land. Locals, however, claimed the original devastation was through six acres.

This event is the 15th fire incident in the Chandpai range in last 12 years – a trend that is posing a threat to the world’s largest mangrove forest which is also listed as a world heritage site.

Besides fire, the other threats that this forest faced were mostly man-made – with the sinking of an oil tanker in the Shela river in December 2014, and the sinking of a coal-laden ship in the same river last month.

Also, the government, in collaboration with India, is setting up a coal-fired power plant in Rampal – what activists and environmentalists say will threaten the biodiversity of the forest.