Keraniganj plastic factory fire death toll rises to 9
Eight more people, who suffered severe burn injuries in a factory fire in Dakkhin Keraniganj of Dhaka on Wednesday, died at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital from Wednesday night to early Thursday.
The death toll in the incident now rises to nine as one died after the factory caught fire Wednesday.
The DMCH physicians said that almost all of the burn injured are in critical condition.
The physician of the plastic surgery unit, Tahmina Sattar, confirmed the death of eight more people to Prothom Alo in the morning.
Five of them were identified as Imran, Bablu, Raihan, Khaleque and Salauddin.
Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, a deadly fire broke out at the factory of Prime Plate and Plastic Industries in Hijaltola of Dakkhin Keraniganj. A worker was killed and 34 others injured in the fire.
Residential physician of DMCH’s burn unit Partha Shankar Paul yesterday told Prothom Alo that all the victims' windpipes were badly injured in the fire.
Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit sources said 10 of the 34 injured were aged between 14 and 20 years.
Among the injured, Alam, Zinarul Islam, Faruk, Mehedi and Razzaque sustained 100 per cent burn injuries while Durjoy and Sujon sustained 90 per cent injuries and 10 sustained 50-80 per cent injuries.
The reasons of the fire could not be known immediately. Workers of the factory suspected the fire may have erupted after an explosion of a gas cylinder. The owner was not available for comments.
Deputy assistant director at fire service headquarters Kazi Nazmuzzaman yesterday said, “The factory caught fire earlier too. 10 units of the fire service started working after the fire broke out around 4:29pm. The blaze was brought under control around 5:45pm.”
Keraniganj MP and state minister for power and energy Nasrul Hamid went to see the injured at DMCH in the evening.
He said they came to know that the factory did not have approval from the concerned departments. The state minister also said he asked the local government and environment department to take actions against the factories situated outside the area approved for setting up factories. But the factories could not be shifted.
The factory mainly produced one-time plates, glasses and other necessary products. One Nazrul Islam from Wari in Old Dhaka is the owner of the factory. Around 200 people work at the factory. Eighty people were working at the unit the fire gutted.
Earlier on 20 February this year, 70 people were killed in a fire in Churihatta in old Dhaka. On 10 September 2016, 24 people were killed after a fire broke out at Tampaco packaging factory.