At least 200 fire incidents took places at several places in Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh during New Year celebrations on early Saturday. Most of the fires were originated from sky lanterns flown by people to welcome the New Year 2022.
In the early hours of Saturday, thousands of flying lanterns and fireworks were seen in the city sky. Release of sky lantern especially in densely populated cities like Dhaka can cause massive fire disaster as they can land anytime anywhere with burning flame.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence reported fire at several places in capital Dhaka. A terrible fire was reported on the rooftop of a building in Matuail that originated from a sky lantern. According to fire experts, people do not have any control over where the sky lantern will go or land.
As lanterns can fly up to 3,000 feet and lasts for around 6 to 20 minutes, no one can say either the fire will be doused in the sky or it will land at a crowded place.
The government must ban sky
lanterns and all sorts of fireworks immidietly
Various foreign countries have already banned sky lantern. However, it has been noticed that the releasing of lanterns has now become a common part of various celebrations like new year, wedding, birthday, open air concert and so on. The sky of the capital Dhaka, other metropolitan cities, district towns and upazila headquarters remains covered with thousands of flashing lanterns and sparkling fireworks during various celebrations.
As the lanterns are made from paper supported by a bamboo frame with a holder at the bottom for the heat source, if they fall on any rooftop, residence or ground a major fire may break anytime anywhere.
Therefore, we should not celebrate any occasion with fireworks and release sky lantern to avert any danger. The government must ban sky lanterns and all sorts of fireworks immidietly.
