Time Digital Report: At least seven people suffered burn injuries in two separate explosions caused by a gas pipe leak at a residence in Dhaka's Shajahanpur area today.
The first explosion took place around 8:00 am and the second one happened around 6:00 pm, said police and victims.
Shajahanpur Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Sujit Kumar Saha said the fire incident took place on the ground floor of a house in the Jheel Mosque area of Shajahanpur.
The injured are the resident's tenant Mintu Hawlader, 40, his daughter Maria Ishrat, 19, their neighbours Ali Akbar, 35, and Bacchu Miah, 45, and three sanitation workers --Monir Hossain, 41, Delwar Hossain, 57, and Sirajul Islam, 48.
Six of them are receiving treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute, while Sirajul was admitted to a private hospital.
Talking to journalists, Mintu said, "We often used to get smells of gas in our kitchen and bathroom. But we could not find out the leakage. Today around 8:00 am, a fire suddenly broke out in our kitchen. Bacchu and I suffered burn injuries in the fire."
Mintu's wife Jharna Akhter, said, "We took my husband and Bacchu to the burnt unit (Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute) in the morning immediately after the first fire incident."
"In the evening, we brought three sanitary workers to our home to repair the gas pipe leakage. But fire broke out again. Five people, including my daughter, got injured," she said.
Doctors at the burn institute said around 40 per cent of Muntu's body and 22 per cent of Ali Akbar's body have been burnt while others suffered minor injuries.
OC Sujit Kumar Saha further said police are investigating the incident.
