United Hospital fire: 5-member probe body formed

Fire Service and Civil defence headquarters has formed a 5-member committee to investigate the death of five patients at the isolation unit of city’s United Hospital on Wednesday night following a fire incident.

Deputy director (Dhaka) Debasis Bardhan will lead the committee, said Rasel Shikder, duty officer of fire service control room.

The five patients who were killed in the fire incident are Riazul Alam, 45, Khodeza Begum, 70, Bherun Anthony Paul, 74, Md Monir Hossain, 75 and Md Mahabub, 50, according to a statement of United Hospital .

They were undergoing treatment with COVID-19 symptoms at the isolation ward outside the main hospital building, said the statement.

According to the statement, the fire originated from electric short circuit at 9:30am and spread soon fast due to gusty wind.

Later, the fire service was informed immediately who brought the blaze under control within 15-20minutes with the hospital’s own fire extinguishers, added the statement.

“We’ve recovered five bodies,” Kamrul Islam, duty officer of fire service control room, told UNB on Wednesday night.

The fire broke out at the corona ward around 9:55pm and was extinguished around 10:25pm.

Kamrul said they initially suspect an AC explosion caused the fire.

In February last year, a fire broke out at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College. The fire reportedly originated at a storeroom on the first floor of a new building of the hospital.