Gulistan blast: One more victim succumbs to injuries, death toll now 25

UNB, Dhaka :

The death toll from the massive explosion that ripped through a 5-storey building in Dhaka’s Gulistan area has risen to 25, with one more victim succumbing to his injuries today.

The deceased was identified as Md Hasan, 32, son of Abu Ahmed Siddique of Noakhali’s Begumganj upazila.

Hasan had been undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery with 12% burn injuries. He succumbed to his injuries around 9:11 am today, said Inspector Bachhu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp.

On March 7, at least 17 people were killed and over 100 were injured in a massive explosion in the 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital’s Gulistan area.

A sanitary materials shop on the ground floor of the building, BRAC Bank office on one of the floors and an adjacent 7-storey building were damaged but the building didn’t collapse.

Meanwhile, two bodies were recovered from the debris on March 9.

Musa Haider, 45, a victim succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital on the same day, raising the death toll to 20.

Meanwhile, firefighters recovered the body of another victim from the debris on March 9 while three other victims identified as Yeasin Arafat, Mirza Azam and Zahan Sardar Selim succumbed to their injuries at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on March 9, March 11 and March 14 respectively.

Three people, including the owner of the building in Gulistan, were arrested in a case over the blast.