Uttar Khan fire: Death toll hits five as two more succumb to burns

The death toll from Saturday’s fire at Dhaka’s Uttar Khan has risen to five.

Afroza Akhtar Purnima, 30, and Dablu Molla, 33, died while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning respectively, said DMCH Outpost SI Md Bachchu Mia.

Eighty percent of Purnima’s body had been burned in the fire, doctors said, while Molla had burns on 65 percent of his body.

Three other people wounded by the blaze are still undergoing treatment at the DMCH Burn Unit.

The fire was started by a gas pipe leak on the ground floor of the three-storey home in Uttar Khan’s Byaparipara. The blaze ignited when the kitchen stove was turned on around 4am on Saturday.

The fire service rescued eight victims and admitted them to the DMCH Burn Unit.

Md Azizul Islam, 27, passed away on Saturday morning. His wife, Muslima Begum, died that evening. Azizul’s aunt Sufia Begum died on Sunday morning. Sufia’s daughter, Purnima, died on Tuesday night.

Purnima’s 12-year-old son Sagor, Dablu Mollah’s wife Anju Ara, 25, and her five-year-old son Abdullah Sourav are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Doctors say that Sagor is still in danger.

The family, who hail from Pabna, moved to the ground floor of the building last month and lived in three of the rooms.

Muslima and Purnima worked at a garment factory in Uttar Khan. Azizul worked at a fish warehouse and Dablu was an autorickshaw driver. Dablu’s son Abdullah was a student in first grade at Moinartek Primary School.