AC blast kills public admin ministry peon in Dhaka's Eskaton

The blast at the BIAM Foundation building leaves another person injured

An office assistant at the public administration ministy has been killed in an air conditioner explosion at the Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management, or BIAM, Foundation building in Dhaka's Eskaton.

Another person, employed as a driver under the ministry, was injured in the incident that occurred early on Friday morning, according to the police.

The dead man, 40-year-old Abdul Malek Khan, had reportedly been staying in a room at the BIAM office, which hosts various government departments, a conference hall and accommodations for officers of different ranks. The injured driver has been identified as 40-year-old Md Faruk.

Fire Service duty officer Khaleda Yasmin said they received a call about the incident at 3:34am and dispatched two units from the Tejgaon Fire Station to the scene. Emergency workers managed to extinguish the fire at 4:15am.

Based on the responding units' report, Khaleda said that the fire started in a room on the fifth floor of the 10-storey building, which houses the BCS Administration Welfare Multipurpose Cooperative Association.

The fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in the air conditioner.

Sub-Inspector Md Moniruzzaman from Hazaribagh Police Station confirmed the fire occurred in Room 407 of the BIAM building around 3am.

Malek was rescued from the room with the help of the Fire Service and taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s emergency department at 7am, where doctors declared him dead.

His body is now at the hospital morgue. Malek's younger brother Sohel Khan told reporters that his elder brother worked as an office assistant at the public administration ministry and often stayed overnight at the office. He heard that the AC exploded while his brother was asleep.

Sohel, however, raised questions about the incident, noting that only one person died while the other was severely injured. "My brother regularly slept in Room 504. Why did he go to Room 407? That's a mystery to us."