Published : 25 Sep 2026, 11:03 PM
Updated : 25 Sep 2026, 11:03 PM
Another person has died of burns after an expatriate worker poured petrol on himself and his relatives before sparking a fire in the Sutrapur area of Dhaka’s Shyambazar over a “family dispute”.
Tania Akhter, 20, died in the ICU at the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute around 7pm on Friday, taking the total death toll from the incident to three.
On Sept 19, 26-year-old Md Emon – an expatriate living in Saudi Arabia, who had returned to Bangladesh – set the fire.
Emon died the next day at the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute with burns on 90 percent of his body.
His father Md Siddique and three other family members were also burnt in the fire. Siddique died around 2:15am on Thursday. He had burns on 35 percent of his body.
Tania, who died on Friday evening, was Emon's cousin and a graduate student of Dhaka Women's College in Old Dhaka.
Emon's cousins Md Rajib and Arifur Rahman Dhalu are still hospitalised with burns. Rajib worked as a mechanic at the National Hospital and Dhalu is an electrician.
Dr Sultan Mahmud Sikder, resident physician at the burn institute, said: "Tania, who died in the ICU on Friday, had burns on 60 percent of her body. Previously, her cousin Emon and uncle Siddique had died. Three people have now died in the fire incident. Of the remaining two hospitalised, Rajib has suffered burns on 15 percent of his body and Arif on 8 percent."
Emon returned home on Sept 18 due to a “family dispute”. The next day, relatives said that he poured petrol on himself and set himself on fire.
Sonia Akhter, the wife of the burnt Arifur, said on Saturday that the house had long belonged to the family. On Sept 18, Tania had an argument with Emon's sister Sultana over the accumulation of dirty water in front of the house.
"When Tania asked her to clean the dirty water, Sultana informed her brother Emon, who was in Saudi Arabia, about the matter. Emon returned home the next day after receiving the news."
According to Sonia, Emon threatened to kill the others on Saturday afternoon, saying: “I will die too, and I will kill you.”
She said he then poured petrol on himself and the others and set them alight.
All five victims were rescued and taken to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
