A 12-year-old boy who was injured in a gas cylinder blast alongside many other children in Cumilla’s Nangalkot Upazila has died after fighting for his life for 17 days.
The victim, Sabbir Hossain, succumbed to burn injuries at 10:30 pm on Saturday while undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka, according to Md Faruk Hossain, chief at Nangalkot Police Station, reports bdnews24.com.
Sabbir, a resident of Malipara village in the Nangalkot Upazila, was a sixth-grader at a local school.
On Jan 13, at least 41 people, mostly children, were injured in an explosion in Biruli Village of Nangalkot Upazila. Adults and children were visiting the area to see the balloons filled with gas in preparation for a winter fair at Mogra Government Primary School when a cylinder exploded.
Five to six people were burnt as metal particles pierced some of the victims, according to witnesses.
Sabbir’s father Salauddin Ahmed said: “On the day of the blast, Sabbir had gone to the area to see them fill balloons with gas. He was on life support from Jan 24. He fought for his life for 17 days, but we lost him."
Dr SM Ayub Hossain, the resident doctor at the Sheikh Hasina Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute, said the boy sustained burn injuries on 25 per cent of his body.