At least four people died and two others poisoned after being exposed to toxic gas at a ship breaking yard in Sitakunda in Chittagong yesterday afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Faruk, 28, Jashim, 26, and Gias Uddin, 30, of the same upazila, while the identity of another victim was yet to be confirmed.
According to the police, some seven to eight persons went to the ship breaking yard to purchase electronics items of a scrap ship, MV Capital Lysenko, which recently arrived at the yard, at around 3:30pm.
“When the victims were going through the electronic goods of the ship, they mistakenly opened a cylinder filled with carbon dioxide which soon spread into the entire vessel,” he added.
The victims were rushed to the hospital where the on duty doctors declared four of the victims dead.
The two other victims, Ramjan and Akbar, were receiving treatment in Al Amin Hospital in Chittagong city, said Sitakunda police station Inspector Aminul Islam.
Authorities of the ship breaking yard could not be reached over phone following the incident.