The fire that had engulfed a part of the Sunderbans since Monday morning was finally doused Tuesday afternoon, about 29 hours after it had broken out, said fire service officials.

The fire burned down about an acre of the forest under Daser Bharani forest camp of Sarankhola range, according to an initial estimate of the Forest Department. 

‘We have called off our operation at 4:00pm,’ said Sanjoy Kumar Debnath, the fire service’s station officer at Morelganj in Bagerhat.

A total of 35 fire fighters worked since Monday afternoon for dousing the fire with four pumps constantly supplying water from the River Bhola.

Yet the fire had spread three kilometres deep inside the forest that was covered with thick layers of fallen leaves and dried shrubbery.

Sanjoy said that forest officials were keeping watch for signs of possible pockets of fire if there were any.

The fire had broken out at 11:40am on Monday and the cause of the fire could not immediately be known, according to the fire service.

Khulna University’s forestry and wood technology professor Nazmus Sadat said that it was highly unlikely that a large scale fire would break out in a mangrove forest sitting in the water.

‘But fire became frequent in parts of the Sunderbans this year,’ said Sadat.

He said that due to land elevation, parts of the forest lost mangrove characteristics, getting vulnerable to fire.

‘The forest may have been intentionally set on fire as empty forest land may offer better scopes for land grabbing,’ said Sadat.

In February, about four acres of the Sunderbans under Chandpai range was burned down in a fire.

Monday’s fire was the 23rd incident of fire in the past two decades in which 71 acres of the Sunderbans were lost, according to news reports.

‘Prompt action of forest officials with help from locals in creating a fire line has saved the fire from being spread,’ said Moyeenuddin Khan, conservator of forest, Khulna.

He also added that in their initial estimation, the fire affected the forest over an acre of land.

He said that a probe body was working to find out the actual loss.

The fire, Moyeenuddin said, must have started by humans as the area where it caught is frequented by people either for livelihood or for other reasons.

He, however, ruled out any motive of land grabbing behind the fire.

Fire fighters said that they struggled to bring the fire under control for dry weather but rain on Monday night kept the fire from spreading.