Casualties rising rapidly: Gas cylinder blasts mounting across country
Syed Shemul Parvez :
Gas cylinder explosions are increasing at an alarming rate. Almost every day such accidents are occurring somewhere in the country.
Apart from houses, now footpath tea shops are also using gas cylinders openly.
Sources said at least 20 people were killed and 50 others seriously injured in several gas blast incidents across the country including the capital in last seven days.
According to Fire Service and Civil Defense statistics, there were 818 incidents of LP gas cylinder explosions in 2019.
Twenty-five people lost their lives in these accidents and 69 people were injured.
The financial loss is over Tk 12 crore. In the next year in 2020, the number of accidents increased to 957.
At least 10 people lost their lives in these accidents. 107 people were injured.
The financial loss is about TK 4 crore.
In 2021, there were 894 gas cylinder explosion accidents in the country, that is, an average of more than two accidents per day.
In 2022, there were 24102 fire incidents across the country. Among them, there were 94 explosions and 795 gas supply line fires.
30 people were injured and 1 died in the gas cylinder fire incident.
But the real picture is much more than that.
Most of these fires were caused by the use of gas stoves. On average, multiple explosions occur every day somewhere in the country.
Experts say that these accidents are mainly caused by gas leakage.
Gas leakage occurs due to malfunction of important parts like cylinder hose pipe, regulator, gas valve.
Gas comes out from that leakage and accumulates somewhere outside.
Contact with the slightest fire, even a spark, can cause a massive explosion.
Besides, there is no caution in the use of these cylinders. No one obeys the rules.
They also said that the risk of explosion in LPG cylinders is increasing due to illegal gas filling or cross filling from large cylinders to small cylinders.
The stoves manufactured in the local market are not of good quality.
These stoves start to emit gas after using for some time.
As a result, there is a risk of cylinder explosion and accident, experts added.
A pedestrian named Shohag Khan told The New Nation that the incident of Churihatta fire in Chawkbazar of Old Dhaka was due to the use of cylinders everywhere including the footpath.
He complains that a major accident can happen at any moment.
None even in the administration supervises the matter, he said.
In this regard, the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said that the real cause of the explosion is not properly known to the users. So in order to avoid accidents, people have to know the correct rules for using cylinders.
To avoid accidents, cylinders should not be placed near the stove or fire. Cylinders should not be heated to expel excess gas.
After cooking, the switch of the both stove and LPG cylinder regulator must be closed.
The stove should be placed at least six inches above the cylinder.
A regulator compatible with the bulb must be used. It is better to open the doors and windows of the room half an hour before cooking.
