Environmentalists warn of long-term impacts from Bangladesh depot fire

Environmentalists warn of long-term impacts from Bangladesh depot fire
Fire that broke out on June 4 and took three days to douse was one of the country’s worst industrial disasters in years. (Supplied)
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Updated 15 June 2022

Environmentalists warn of long-term impacts from Bangladesh depot fire

Environmentalists warn of long-term impacts from Bangladesh depot fire
  • More than 40 people were killed in blaze and explosions at cargo depot near Chittagong port
  • Increased air pollution has already been observed in area

DHAKA: As Bangladeshi authorities investigate the causes of a deadly cargo depot fire that shook the country earlier this month, scientists have warned that the disaster will have a longer-term impact on the environment and health of local communities.  

More than 40 people were killed and 200 injured — mostly port workers and firefighters — in the fire and subsequent explosions at the depot in Sitakunda, near the southeastern port of Chittagong, which handles most of the country’s garment exports.

The fire that broke out on June 4 and took three days to douse was one of the country’s worst industrial disasters in years.

Authorities have not determined the exact cause of the fire but said that leakage from a container of hydrogen peroxide was likely the source of the initial blaze. An official report is expected to be released this month.

Environmental assessment may take longer. The testing of samples from the area is underway, but Prof. Mohammad Aftab Ali Sheikh, chairman of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, said that it was already clear that the region will be affected, especially its soil and water bodies.

 

 


“Definitely the explosion and fire have some subsequent impacts on the environment in that area. The soil of that area will be contaminated through the water mixed with different chemicals. A portion of chemical-mixed water has flown to water bodies, which will create some hazards. In addition, that area witnessed some rainfall also which carried this chemical-mixed water to the rivers,” he told Arab News on Wednesday.

Air pollution resulting from the fire may reach places hundreds of kilometers away. “The gas generated from the explosions and burning had spread over in the air. This air might have flown over the adjunct districts,” Sheikh said. “It might even travel to Dhaka.”

In the depot area, increased air pollution has already been observed.

“We have noticed increased dust particles in the air of the Sitakundu area,” Mofidul Alam, director of Chittagong Division Department of Environment, said. “This dust will have some negative impact on the trees, plants and biodiversity of this area.”

The disaster reflected the haphazard safety standards that continue to affect Bangladesh. The country already has a devastating track record of industrial accidents, including factories catching fire with workers trapped inside.

Its deadliest fire was in 2012, when a blaze swept through a garment factory in Dhaka, killing 112 workers. Last year, a huge blaze engulfed a food and beverage factory, also in the capital, killing at least 52 people.

The fire department told Arab News last week that from initial observations, it appeared that safety guidelines and precautions were likely ignored at the depot.

Mohammad Manikuzzaman, assistant director at Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, said that authorities had “only noticed a few fire extinguishers inside the depot” and nothing else related to fire preparedness.

But it was not only the preventive measures that were lacking.

Environmental scientist Sharif Jamil, who serves as secretary general of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, a civic movement to protect the country’s environment, said that there should be special zones for handling any type of chemicals, but that such standard practices have been ignored — and not only at the cargo depot.

“These types of explosions are not only causing deaths of human beings. The aftermath of these accidents have a long-term effect on air, soil and water,” he told Arab News.

“We need to prepare some particular zones to handle sensitive chemicals with proper preparedness and monitoring by the management. Otherwise, these types of incidents would take place again and again.”

 


Albania calls for amnesty for ‘honest’ citizens in the UK illegally

Albania calls for amnesty for ‘honest’ citizens in the UK illegally
Updated 20 sec ago

Albania calls for amnesty for ‘honest’ citizens in the UK illegally

Albania calls for amnesty for ‘honest’ citizens in the UK illegally
  • Interior minister asks British counterpart for countrymen to be given work visas

LONDON: Albania has called for an amnesty for its “honest” citizens living in the UK without visas as part of the agreement to tackle people-smuggling gangs and illegal migration, the Sunday Telegraph has reported.

Bledar Cuci, the Albanian interior minister, met his British counterpart Suella Braverman during a visit to the UK with Prime Minister Edi Rama this week. He stated that the problem of illegal migration could not be solved unless the UK government “improved” its approach to legal settlement.

Cuci requested that the UK’s work visa scheme be relaxed to allow more Albanians to enter for employment, including seasonal work, as well as an amnesty for those who were already in the country without permission. 

“I asked her to give an amnesty for all Albanians without a visa but are honest without criminal records. Albanians are a vital community and well-integrated in the UK,” Cuci said. “It is unacceptable to single out the Albanian community in the UK and to be stereotyped due to some illegals.”

A source close to Braverman told the Telegraph that she was “happy to meet with minister Cuci to discuss the UK’s relations with Albania. She explained that Britons would always welcome Albanians traveling to the UK legally, and that she had great respect for their country. 

“She also listened to his proposals with interest,” the source added. 

Roughly one-third of the 45,700 people who crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2022 were Albanians. Around 800 of them have since been deported and thousands more remain in detention.

The UK has an agreement with Albania to expedite the return of those who cross the channel, and another for the early deportation of all eligible Albanian inmates in British prisons so that they can serve their remaining sentence in their home country.


Afghan woman in Glasgow fears for her life after UK rejects her visa

Afghan woman in Glasgow fears for her life after UK rejects her visa
Updated 26 March 2023

Afghan woman in Glasgow fears for her life after UK rejects her visa

Afghan woman in Glasgow fears for her life after UK rejects her visa
  • Maryam Amiri says she’s been threatened for criticizing the Taliban
  • Glasgow MP slams Home Office for lack of care, professionalism

LONDON: An Afghan woman living in Glasgow fears being deported to her country after her new visa was rejected by the Home Office.

Maryam Amiri has urged the UK government to reconsider its decision.

Amiri told Sky News that her family has already received threats due to her views on the Taliban and its decision on women’s rights. She also stated that her husband, who is also Afghan, works for British forces and that forcing either of them to return would be dangerous.

The Home Office said that Amiri is not eligible for leave to remain under the five-year or 10-year partner route, despite having been granted two shorter visa periods since 2016, PA News Agency reported.

The decision notice also said that Amiri does not satisfy the minimum income requirement and that the Home Secretary has not seen any evidence of “insurmountable obstacles” to the couple continuing their lives together in Afghanistan.

“I have always been vocal against the Taliban and their brutal regime,” Amiri told the PA News Agency.

Amiri also disagreed with the Home Office’s decision to return her to a country “where women are not secure,” particularly women who have “always been vocal against the Taliban.”

“I feel threatened and am scared of losing my life if I go back,” she said.

“I have put my life in trouble by opposing the Taliban and their activities,” Amiri added.

Alison Thewliss, MP for Glasgow Central, slammed the Home Office decision, saying Amiri’s return to life in Afghanistan was “dangerous” and failed to account for the country’s changes since 2016.

“The idea that you can just send people back and everything will be fine, that’s just not sensible, not practical,” Thewliss told Sky News.

“It’s dangerous and the Home Office should really know better before putting something like this out,” Thewliss added.

She continued: “I think her case highlights just the lack of care, the lack of attention, the lack of professionalism in the Home Office.”

Amiri’s case was raised in the House of Commons with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on an individual case.

Concerning Amira’s visa, a Home Office spokesperson told Sky News: “All visa applications are decided on individual merits. We don’t routinely comment on individual cases.”


Ex-boxing champ Amir Khan thought he could die during London robbery

Former world boxing champion Amir Khan has said he feared his children would grow up fatherless after he was robbed at gunpoint.
Former world boxing champion Amir Khan has said he feared his children would grow up fatherless after he was robbed at gunpoint.
Updated 26 March 2023

Ex-boxing champ Amir Khan thought he could die during London robbery

Former world boxing champion Amir Khan has said he feared his children would grow up fatherless after he was robbed at gunpoint.
  • Olympic silver medalist was robbed at gunpoint for watch during Ramadan last year
  • He feared his children would grow up ‘without their dad,’ has since moved his family to Dubai

LONDON: Former world boxing champion Amir Khan has said he feared his children would grow up fatherless after he was robbed at gunpoint in London last year.

Khan, 36, had been dining at the Sahara Grill restaurant with his wife Faryal Makhdoom, 31, and their friend Omar Khalid to break their Ramadan fast on April 18, before Khan and Makhdoom were confronted outside by a gunman.

Dante Campbell, 20, stole a Franck Muller watch worth up to £70,000 ($85,000), having pointed a gun at Khan and instructed him to “take off the watch.”

The watch — a bespoke present made of rose gold and encrusted with diamonds — has not been recovered.

Khan, originally from Bolton in the north of England, told The Sun: “In that moment, you think the worst … that the kids could be growing up without their dad, that Faryal would be raising them on her own.

“Your life flashes before your eyes. I leant my head to the right because I thought, if he is going to shoot me, he can shoot the side of my head. I don’t want to see the bullet coming.”

Khan, an Olympic silver medalist in 2004 who retired from professional boxing last year having won 34 of his 40 professional fights, said: “It was the first time I’ve ever seen a gun in my life. I could see down the barrel. I remember looking back seeing where my wife was. She ran back on the road and screamed ‘help!’”

Makhdoom told The Sun that she thought she and her husband “were going to die on the spot.”

Asked if he should have used his boxing abilities to fight off Campbell, Khan said: “I’ve got a family. It’s only a watch. My life means more to me. When you have kids, you have a priority to make sure they are looked after. I am the breadwinner for the family.

“If I was with the kids, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Maybe I would have panicked and tried to run.”

Khan added that the incident had forced him to relocate his family to Dubai, and that when back in the UK, he spent £600 per day on security.

“I love England,” he said. “I won a medal for the country, but I stay in Dubai now because it’s the only place I feel safe.”

Campbell and his getaway driver, 25-year-old Ahmed Bana — both from north London — admitted conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of an imitation firearm at their trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court. They are due to be sentenced at a later date.

Two men accused of being “spotters” inside the restaurant for Campbell and Bana to target Khan — Ismail Mohamed, 24, and Nurul Amin, 25 — both from north London, were acquitted of conspiracy to commit robbery.


UK threatens Afghan pilot with deportation to Rwanda

An Afghan pilot walks near a military helicopter in Kunar province. (File/AFP)
An Afghan pilot walks near a military helicopter in Kunar province. (File/AFP)
Updated 26 March 2023

UK threatens Afghan pilot with deportation to Rwanda

An Afghan pilot walks near a military helicopter in Kunar province. (File/AFP)
  • Refugee served alongside coalition forces, flying 30-plus missions against Taliban
  • Ex-head of British forces in Afghanistan: Former comrades ‘suffered and died’ after being left behind

LONDON: The UK is threatening an Afghan war veteran who served alongside coalition forces against the Taliban with deportation to Rwanda.

The unnamed former lieutenant in the Afghan Air Force arrived in the UK on a small boat that crossed the English Channel because, he said, there were no safe routes for him to use.

He added that he is one of many former service personnel from Afghanistan now facing deportation, and that he and his comrades have been “forgotten” by their allies.

The pilot, who flew over 30 combat missions against the Taliban, is currently being housed in a UK Home Office-administered hotel for asylum-seekers, where he was told via email that his asylum application may be negatively affected because he traveled from Afghanistan via Italy, Switzerland and France, all of which are designated safe countries.

“(You) may also be removable to Rwanda under the terms of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership between Rwanda and UK,” the email added.

He told The Independent: “What safe and legal way was there after the fall of Afghanistan? You (the UK) entered Afghanistan on the first day as a friendly and brotherly country, and now this bad day has come upon us.”

The UK government, he said, should “keep the promise of friendship and cooperation that you made, and fulfil it.

“The American and British forces have forgotten us. We worked with them and we helped them like they were our brothers. We are not (Taliban), we are not ISIS (Daesh), so why are they leaving us like this?

“Every day they threaten to send us to Rwanda or our original country. I don’t know what we should do.”

Rodney Liberato, who works at the US State Department and supervised the pilot while in Afghanistan, has written to the UK government on his behalf, telling The Independent that the lieutenant is a “fine young man, a superb son, brother, husband, father, friend and a patriot for his nation” who “risked his life to support his nation’s development and coalition forces in Afghanistan.”

Another pilot from the same squadron, currently in hiding in Iran, told The Independent: “The British were part of the coalition forces and we had several mutual missions with them. Our training program was also supported by the coalition. 

“I wish to come to the UK because I deserve to be there and to save my life. We, as the Afghanistan fighter pilots, played a big role in the war against the Taliban and other terrorist groups.”

Afghans currently make up the largest national cohort crossing the English Channel illegally in small boats, with over 9,000 making the journey in 2022.

There are two legal schemes for Afghans to apply to come to the UK. The largest — the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme, for those who helped British forces — has relocated 11,000 people.

An additional 4,300 eligible people, though, remain trapped in Afghanistan. A recent investigation showed that some had been put in danger after UK officials requested paperwork from them only obtainable from the Afghan government, currently under Taliban control. 

The other legal scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, has resettled just 22 people since 2021.

In response to the number of Channel crossings, the government recently approved legislation that would allow for the deportation and permanent banning from ever entering the UK of people making the trip.

Col. Rich Kemp, former head of UK forces in Afghanistan, told The Independent that many people who had worked with the coalition had been abandoned.

“It must be very difficult for them, and we should — I believe — be doing everything we can to help them out. If we can do it, whatever we can do,” he said.

“There was a success (in evacuating people) to an extent, but obviously there are many people who haven’t (been helped) and have suffered and died as a consequence.

“Once you decide to withdraw everything from the country, you don’t have much leverage in helping people to get out.”

Clare Moseley, founder of charity Care4Calais, which is supporting the Afghan pilot’s asylum claim, told The Independent: “Our client worked with UK forces, but rather than being provided with a safe route to escape the Taliban, he had to make a dangerous crossing across the Channel.

“Now our government plans to ban people like him from claiming asylum altogether, and subject them to indefinite detention and forced deportation to places where we can’t guarantee their safety.

“We should be giving safe passage to these brave refugees. This would stop small boat crossings, put people-smugglers out of business overnight, and, more importantly, save lives.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We remain committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan, and so far have brought around 24,500 people impacted by the situation back to the UK.

“We continue to work with like-minded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan on resettlement issues, and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans.”


Bloody artwork protesting Prince Harry’s Afghan kills to be projected on London landmark

Copies of “Spare” by Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, are displayed at Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street in London.
Copies of “Spare” by Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, are displayed at Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street in London.
Updated 26 March 2023

Bloody artwork protesting Prince Harry’s Afghan kills to be projected on London landmark

Copies of “Spare” by Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, are displayed at Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street in London.
  • Sculpture by Russian artist comes in response to royal’s claim he killed 25 Taliban fighters
  • Afghans in Calais donated blood for piece that will be projected onto St. Paul’s Cathedral

LONDON: A sculpture of the coat of arms of the British royal family, created with the blood of four Afghans, is to be “projected” onto the walls of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London by Russian artist Andrei Molodkin to protest Prince Harry’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

The prince’s recent memoir “Spare” caused significant controversy after he said in it that he had killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving as an attack helicopter pilot.

He added that the figure was “not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” and that he had thought of the fatalities as akin to taking “chess pieces.”

At the time, the claims prompted a backlash from many inside and outside Afghanistan, with the Taliban saying he should be put on trial.

Prince Harry later said the idea that he had boasted about killing Afghans was “a dangerous lie.”

Molodkin told Sky News that four Afghans currently based in the French city of Calais had voluntarily given their blood for the artwork, that five others living in the UK would donate more blood for it at a later stage, and that they, like him, were “very, very angry” about what the prince had written.

“They read they are just ‘chess figures’ ... for some prince hunting by helicopter,” Molodkin said. “It looked like a safari situation. How he told it, for him it’s like a computer game.”

Molodkin added that the aim was to “drench St. Paul’s Cathedral in the blood of Afghani people,” and that video footage of the prince would also be displayed.

Explaining how the art worked, he said: “Blood will go in the royal coat of arms, it will circulate in there. It will be projected ... on to the cathedral — so all the cathedral will be in the blood of Afghani people.”

Molodkin said he would also try to bring blood into the cathedral, adding: “It’s a cathedral — it’s for everyone. Everyone can come there and pray. Donating blood, it’s kind of a way of praying.” He has not sought the cathedral’s permission.

He said he has worked with human blood as a creative medium for 15 years, adding that it symbolizes power. “Then, the people who are abused by this power, I ask them to donate blood for this,” he said.

Molodkin’s solidarity with the Afghan people stems from his time in the Soviet Union, where he served as a soldier during his country’s occupation of Afghanistan.

“Even in the army, you’re scared to participate in the shooting of others … you’re very stressed,” he said of his experiences. “But (Harry) thinks it’s a video game.”

Molodkin lives in southern France after creating an art installation involving blood donated by Ukrainian soldiers depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I can’t go back to Russia,” he told Sky News.