Bangladesh: Four injured in explosion while cleaning water tank

Dhaka, June 29 (IANS) Four members of the family, including two children, sustained injuries in an explosion at a residence in the Tannery intersection area of Hazaribagh’s Jigatola in Bangladesh, while cleaning a water tank, reports said.

The injured have been identified as Zia Uddin (45), a leather trader; his daughters, Nazia Sultana Rafia (8) and Faria Sultana (3); and a tenant of the house, Belal Hossain, 30, who is a day labourer.

The explosion occurred at Zia's two-storey house near Tannery Intersection around 4:00 pm, his nephew HM Shah Poran said.

Belal was cleaning the underground water tank and tried to light up the inside by connecting an electric bulb, as it was dark, while Zia and his daughters were standing nearby. Suddenly, an explosion occurred in there, believed to have been caused by the gas collected inside the tank, leaving all four injured, local news media reported.

They were taken to the emergency department of the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery around 10:45 pm on Saturday.

Md Shahporan, who brought the injured to the hospital, said a worker was cleaning the reserve tank at the house when the explosion took place as an electric bulb was turned on inside the tank, presumably due to accumulated gas.

According to local news media, they were first taken to a local hospital and later transferred to the burn institute.

Dr Shawon Bin Rahman, resident surgeon at the burn institute, told The Daily Star that Belal suffered burns on 17 per cent of his body, while Zia, Faria, and Rafia sustained burns of four, five, and six per cent, respectively.

"Except for Belal, the rest were released after treatment as their condition was stable," the doctor said.

--IANS

int/bpd/dan