Death toll hits three as another victim succumbs to Chattogram gas blast burns

Six members of the same family remain in hospital with critical burn injuries

Another person has died from injuries caused by a gas explosion at a Halishahar home in Chattogram, raising the death toll to three.

Samir Ahmed, 40, who suffered burns to 45 percent of his body, passed away around 12pm on Tuesday at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, according to Dr Shawon Bin Rahman, resident surgeon at the facility.

Earlier in the day, around 7am, 16-year-old Shawon, who had also been receiving treatment at the same hospital, died. Samir was the uncle of the late Shawon.

Shawon’s mother, 40-year-old Nurjahan Akter Rani, died on Monday while being taken to Dhaka with eight other burn victims for advanced treatment.

The remaining six injured are still receiving care.

After admitting the patients on Monday evening, Dr Shawon had said Rani died before reaching the hospital and the condition of the remaining eight was critical.

The explosion occurred around on Monday morning in a flat on the second floor of the six-storey building “Halima Manzil” in Halishahar’s H Block.

Neighbours said the fire broke out immediately after the loud blast, and the residents came out one by one carrying severe burns.

The victims, including three children from the same family, were having Sehri when the incident occurred.

The injured, apart from the dead, are: Rani’s husband Sakhawat, 46, their other child Umme Aiman Snigdha, 10, Samir’s wife Ashura Akter Pakhi, 30, their two children Ayesha, 4, and Farhan Ahmed Anas, 6, and Sakhawat’s brother Shipon Hossain, 31.

Rani, Pakhi, and Sakhawat had 100 percent of their bodies burnt, Shipon 80 percent, Aiman 38 percent and Anas 30 percent, and Ayesha 45 percent.

Sakhawat, a garage owner who had rented the flat for 18 months, lived there with his wife, two children, and an employee.

His younger brother recently moved in with his family for medical reasons.

Alamgir Hossain, deputy assistant director of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defence (Zone-1), told bdnews24.com: “It appears gas had accumulated in the kitchen. The explosion occurred when lighting the stove, igniting a fire.”

The blast shattered doors and windows on the second to fifth floors, the Fire Service reported.