SHAHEEN MOLLAH and MUNTAKIM SAAD

They are the ones who run towards danger when others run from it. Be it a fire, explosion, road accident, landslide, launch capsize or other natural or manmade calamities, these first responders rush to the spot selflessly.

On some occasions, the firefighters risk their lives climbing to high spots to douse fires in multi-storey buildings; on other, they dive deep into rivers to retrieve swollen bodies.

On Saturday night, when a fire triggered a massive explosion at BM Container Depot in Chattogram’s Sitakunda the firefighters were among the first ones to die.

Nine were killed and 15 others were injured. Three firefighters have been missing since the massive blasts.

The loss of so many lives in a single incident is unprecedented in the history of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence.

As videos and photos of the aftermath of the explosion did the rounds on social media, people of all walks mourned the demise of the heroic firefighters.

So badly were their bodies burnt in the explosions that they were hard to recognise. Parts of the uniform they held so dear and wore with such pride lay strewn about the spot along with their body parts.