Four members of a family sustained severe burn injuries as a gas line leakage led to a massive explosion at a residence in Dhamrai of Dhaka.
The incident took place on the ground floor of a four-storied building in ward No. 2 of the area around 3:30 am on Wednesday.
The injured are Nurul Islam Nannu Miya, 55; his wife Sufiya Begum, 50; their daughter Nishrat Jahan Sathi, 22; and son Al Hadi Sohag, 18. They are currently undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.
According to relatives, when Sufiya Begum entered the kitchen to prepare Sahri and lit up the gas stove, an explosion occurred due to the accumulated gas in the flat, resulting in a fire that burned all four family members.
Later, locals rushed in and took them to the upazila health complex. Due to their critical health condition, physicians referred them to the national burn and plastic surgery institute in Dhaka.
Sohel Rana, station officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defense in Savar, said the residence had a regular gas connection and a gas cylinder for times of gas outage. It is yet to be ascertained what exactly led to the explosion.
However, the gas cylinder did not explode during the incident, he said, adding that the fire gutted properties worth nearly Tk 200,000.
Tariqul Islam, a resident physician at the national burn and plastic surgery institute, said Nurul Islam Nannu Mia sustained burns covering 48 per cent of his body, Sufiya Begum suffered burns over 80 per cent, Nishrat Jahan Sathi suffered burns over 16 per cent, and Al Hadi Sohag had burns over 38 per cent of his body.
Three of them are in critical condition, while the fourth one is yet to be danger-free.