At least 49 people, including seven firefighters, died, and at least 300 people were injured when a fire broke out at a container depot in Bangladesh over the weekend, triggering a massive chemical explosion, according to several media reports. The fire broke out late Saturday night at the depot in Sitakunda, which stores about 4,000 containers, many of which are filled with garments destined for Western retailers. The facility is located about 40 kilometers from the major port of Chittagong, which handles about 90 percent of Bangladesh’s roughly $100 billion in trade. Firefighters were still busy extinguishing pockets of fire on Sunday afternoon. The director of the container depot said the cause of the original fire was unknown. Rakibul Alam Chowdhury of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said about $110 million worth of garments were destroyed. Fires are unfortunately not uncommon in Bangladesh due to lax enforcement of safety regulations.

Topics