Published : 23 Aug 2025, 07:33 PM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 01:41 PM
At least nine people, including children, have been injured after a fire tore through a tin-roofed house in Narayanganj’s Siddhirganj Upazila.
The victims are two sisters, their husbands and children, neighbours said.
The fire broke out around 3:30am on Saturday in the Painadi Purbo Para area. Eight of the injured were rushed to Dhaka’s National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, where doctors said most suffered burns covering 30 to 53 percent of their bodies.
Asma Begum, 35, her husband Tanzil Islam, 40, daughter Tisha, 17, and son Arafat, 15, Asma’s sister Salma Begum, 32, her husband Hasan, 40, and their children Muntaha, 8, Jannat, 4, and 1-month-old Imam Uddin were injured in the incident.
Tisha suffered the most severe injuries, with burns over half her body.
Neighbour Mamun said Asma and Salma’s father, Abdur Rashid, had been the caretaker of the house but passed away recently. His three daughters, their husbands and children had been living in adjacent rooms on rent.
“At night we heard a loud explosion. When we came out, we saw the house on fire. Later locals and relatives of the injured took them to hospital,” he said.
Initially thought to have been caused by a gas leak, Fire Service officials later said the fire started after a refrigerator compressor exploded following an electrical short circuit. The flames spread quickly to a second room, leaving both families trapped.
“A loud explosion was heard first, and then fire spread rapidly,” said Habibur Rahman, a friend of one of the victims, who helped take them to hospital. He added that a false ceiling in the tin-roofed house collapsed during the fire, worsening their injuries.
Among the victims, Asma suffered burns on 48 percent of her body, Tisha 53 percent, Arafat 15 percent, Salma 48 percent, Hasan 44 percent, Muntaha 37 percent, Jannat 40 percent, and Imam 30 percent, according to Dr Shawon Bin Rahman, resident surgeon at the burn institute.
