Three succumb to burn injuries so far

Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery
File Photo

Three people have succumbed to burn injuries sustained in a gas line explosion at a 5-storey building in the capital’s Mirpur-11 area on Thursday night at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (SHNIBPS).

They are Rina Begum, 50, second wife of building owner Phul Mia, Shafiqul Islam, 35, son of Rina Begum and Suman, 40, a utility mechanic.

Pallabi police station sub-inspector (SI) Mehedi Hasan confirmed this to Prothom Alo adding that Shafiqul and Suman breathed their last on Thursday late night. They had sustained 85 and 45 per cent of burn injuries respectively.

At 10:00pm on the day, Rina Begum, 50, who had 70 per cent burn injuries, passed away at the hospital.

Earlier, seven people including women and a child sustained burn injuries after a gas pipeline explosion at a Mirpur-11 building in Dhaka on Wednesday night.

Rafiqul Islam, son of the 5-storey building (Block: C, Road: 11, Mirpur-11) owner, told Prothom Alo that the building’s gas supply line had leakages for the last couple of days. The problem remained despite repeated repairs.

On Wednesday night, a utility mechanic Sumon fixed a stove gas pipe on the ground floor. When he tried to check the pipeline by lighting the stove, it exploded.

Eventually fire caught the entire floor and neighbourhood, injuring the mechanic Sumon, tenant Renu Begum, building owner Phul Miah’s two wives -- Roushan Ara Begum and Rina Begum, Rina’s son Shafiqul Islam, neighbour Naznin and her five-year-old daughter Nowshin.