At least four members of a family have been hospitalised with severe burn injuries following an explosion due to gas leakage in Dhamrai, Dhaka on Wednesday (March 27).

The leakage was likely present in a gas cylinder and not in the household gas pipeline.

The people injured are - Nurul Islam, 55, his wife Sufiya, 50, their daughter and medical student Nisrat Jahan, 22, as well as son and college student Al Hadi Sohag, 18.

All of the injured except the medical student have sustained burn injuries in around 40% of their bodies, a doctor of Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit has said.

Relatives of the injured said Sufiya went to the kitchen in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday to prepare Sehri meals for her family. The entire residence was already filled with flammable gas, and as soon as Sufiya tried to turn on the stove a major explosion occurred, injuring all the four family members and damaging properties worth Tk2 lakh.

A Dhamrai fire station official told the media that it was not immediately clear whether leakage in the gas pipeline or in a gas cylinder caused the explosion. No exploded gas cylinder was found at the apartment, however. The real reason behind the explosion would be learned only after completion of an investigation, the official said.

BDST: 1917 HRS, MAR 27, 2024
MSK/SMS