NHRC chair seeks proper investigation into Siddique Bazar blast

The chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Kamal Uddin Ahmed, has called for an investigation to ascertain the actual reason behind the blast in the capital’s Siddique Bazar area.

“A proper investigation is needed to find out whether it was an accident or an act of sabotage,” he told the media after inspecting the blast site on Wednesday morning.

A massive blast took place there around 4:45 pm on Tuesday afternoon, leaving 18 dead and more than a hundred injured.

NHRC chairman recalled the recent blasts in the capital’s Science Lab area and Chattogram’s Sitakunda and suggested digging into the incidents to check if these are indications of any impending hazards.

It is reasonable to suspect the incidents as some terrorist activities took place in the past and law enforcers arrested the perpetrators. The actual cause behind the blast needs to be tracked down, he added.

Also, the NHRC chair called for standing beside the victims. NHRC full-time member Selim Reza accompanied him during the inspection.

Meanwhile, four severely injured victims of the Siddique Bazar explosion are currently admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Three victims are admitted in the Shiekh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and the other is admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Burn Institute’s chief coordinator Samanta Lal Sen told reporters on Wednesday, two of the severely injured are currently on life support.

He also said that the 10 injured victims admitted to the institute are not out of danger just yet as all of them have suffered 50-90 per cent burns in their body.

DMCH director Brigadier General Md Nazmul Haque told reporters on Wednesday, one victim is admitted in the hospital's ICU. The other victims of the incident admitted to DMCH are recovering well.