A fire that broke out in Sundarbans has been brought under control after more than a day’s efforts, according to environment ministry’s announcement at 7pm Sunday.

Firefighting activities would continue for a few more days to pre-empt any reemergence of fire. Service personnel are now engaged in cutting trees across five acres of land for expanding the firebreak area and preventing the spread of any potential new fire eruption.

The Forest Department has formed a three-member committee to investigate the cause of the fire.

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury and the Secretary of the Ministry Dr Farhina Ahmed have been supervising and coordinating the Sundarbans firefighting operations round the clock. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also keeping a regular note of the situation.  Chief Conservator of Forests Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury has supervised the firefighting activities on the ground. 

He will brief the journalists at the office of the divisional forest officer of Sundarban West Forest Division in Khulna on Sunday at 8:30pm.

The fire was first reported at around 3.30pm Saturday at Amarbunia camp of Chandpai range under Sundarban East Forest Division in Morelganj Upazila of Bagerhat district. The fire did not spread to the top of the tree or branches and only spread sporadically above the ground, the environment ministry claimed in a statement on Sunday.

Shortly after the outbreak was reported, the people from the forest department as well as the fire service and other related government agencies reached the spot.

Forest department personnel started cutting trees around the fire with the help of local community patrolling groups, village tiger response teams and local people to prevent the fire’s spread.

However, due to low tide at that time there was no water in the canal so it was not possible to use water for dousing flames.  The forest department's own firefighting equipment and water dispenser were brought in on Saturday night.

From early Sunday, the forest department workers, fire servicemen and local people started cutting trees to create a firebreak, and dousing the existing flames with water. At about 2pm Sunday, the air force deployed a helicopter fo sprinkle water from the sky.