Five of a family burnt in Gazipur blast

Five members of a family were sustained burn injuries in a gas explosion that had accumulated inside a room in Kashimpur area of Gazipur on Thursday.

According to relatives of the wounded, the incident occurred around 8:30am in Kashimpur’s Saradagonj on Thursday.

Doctors at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery said one of the victims is in critical condition.
The institute’s resident physician Sultan Mahmud Shikder said Riazul Sheikh’s condition remains critical, with nearly 40 per cent of his body suffering burns.

Riazul’s wife Arifa Begum, 35, sustained five percent burns, his daughter Faria 8 percent, his daughter-in-law Rozina Begum under 1 percent, and an infant named Rahim under 1 percent.

Riazul hails from Faridpur. He had been residing with his family in a rented house near the Square Gate in Saradagonj.

His daughter-in-law Rozina said there are three rooms in the place where they live.
There is another adjoining small room next door where a couple lives.

They had left for work early in the morning.

She said, “My mother-in-law was sitting outside their room looking at her phone in the morning. Suddenly noticing the smell of gas, she informed the couple.

“Later, my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law took the key and unlocked their door, only to be met with a pungent stench of gas pouring out.

“As the room was dark, my father-in-law went to turn on the light. The explosion occurred the moment the switch was flicked.”

Rozina added that there was a gas cylinder inside the room, and the explosion was likely caused by a leak from it.