Two members of a family burnt in a fire sparked by a gas leak in Dhaka’s Jatrabari have died.
The mother and father have succumbed to their injuries while the two-year-old daughter, who is being treated for burns as well, is not out of danger, reports bdnews24.com.
Abdul Karim, 30, breathed his last early on Monday morning at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. His wife Khadiza Akter, 25, died soon after.
“Both of them departed this world around the same time. Their daughter Fatema is not in a good condition,” Karim’s cousin Kamal said, citing the doctors.
A grocer by profession, Karim lived with his family in a rented house in Matuail. On Apr 21, the family had woken to have sehri when the fire broke out. Neighbours took the three to the hospital.
Khadiza had burns on 95 per cent of her body, while Karim had burns on 54 per cent of his. Their daughter has burns on 35 per cent of her body.
Initially, it was believed the blaze was ignited by the explosion of a refrigerator’s compressor, but later police and Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company said the blast was caused by gas accumulated inside the kitchen.
The house had a Titas Gas connection and LPG gas cylinder as well, said Sabiul Awal, manager of Dhaka Metro South wing of Titas Gas.
“They used both. It could be the Titas gas pipeline or the cylinder that caused the blast. But no fault was found in the gas pipeline.”
Many people use LPG cylinders as the Titas Gas Company cannot supply gas regularly or the gas pressure is too low to use.
Either the pipe or the cylinders leaked, the gas accumulated in the house and resulted in the explosion, the Titas official believes.
Karim and Khadiza’s bodies have been kept in the morgue, said Inspector Bachchu Mia of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital Police Outpost.
They will be buried in their ancestral home in Pabna’s Sujanagar following an autopsy, Karim’s cousin Kamal Hossain said.