Probe opens into United Hospital fire that killed 5 patients in COVID-19 unit

The Bangladesh Fire Service has formed a four-member panel to investigate the fire that burned down the isolation unit and killed five patients at the United Hospital in Dhaka.

Debashish Vardhan, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, will lead the team. The other members of the committee are Babul Chakraborty, Niaz Ahmed and Md Abul Kalam Azad.

The committee has been asked to submit the report as soon as possible, Abul Kalam Azad told bdnews24.com on Thursday.

The tent-like unit outside the main building of the private facility in Gulshan caught fire around 10pm on Wednesday.

It quickly swept through the structure as the materials used for the construction and the hand sanitizers kept inside were inflammable, the police said.

Three of the patients had tested positive for the coronavirus and the two others tested negative, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty said on Wednesday.

The probe has already started and the hospital authorities will be asked not to remove any evidence, said Abul Kalam. 

The relatives of the patients, ward doctors, nurses, ward boys and the person who called the fire service will be interviewed, he said. 

"We will record their statements at 10am on Saturday and then submit a report after analysing everything.”