At least 14 people including a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver sustained burn injuries in Feni in an explosion caused by a gas pipeline at a CNG filling station yesterday.
Of the victims, ten critically injured were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital's (DMCH) Burn Unit with severe burn injuries.
The condition of the six injured were said to be critical.
The injured are 30-year-old Md Harun with 30% burn, Yar Ahmed, 45, with 26% burn, a technician of the filling station 40-year-old Rafiqul Islam with 60% burn, Bappi, 25, with 20% burn, Abdullah Al-Mamun, 35, with 65% burn, Abdur Rahim, 25, with 11% burn, Nurul Amin, 45, with 65% burn, Wasim, 40, with 50% burn and Abu Sayeed, 17, with 20% burn.
Wasim, a sub-engineer of the Majumder Gas Filling Station in Chagalnaiya municipality area said they had had some technical problems in the gas supply in the last three days.
“The gas from the reserved tank was not passing properly to the supply line. We have been repairing it for the last three days,” he said.
Yesterday around 1pm as the repair was done to the gas line, it was opened for a test run but within a second the line exploded and caught on fire, he said.
At the time of the fire, CNG-run auto rickshaws and some cars were in queue for refueling. Some drivers along with the filling station staff also sustained injuries.
According to Wasim, injured Rafiqul Islam, Abdullah Al-Mamum are technicians, Nurul Amin and Abu Sayeed are staff. Police identified Bappi and Rahim as auto-rickshaw drivers. The other injured was a passenger of a vehicle waiting in queue. The injured said they were first admitted to the Feni Sadar Hospital and then were shifted to the capital by ambulance.
Contacted, Moazzem Hossain, officer-in-charge of Chagalnaiya police station, told Dhaka Tribune over phone last night that they had picked up the station owner Nur Ahammad Majumder for interrogation.
Burn Unit's Resident Surgeon Partha Shankar Pal said six of the injured had severe burn injuries and their condition was critical.
“None of them are out of danger as their respiratory system was damaged in the fire,” he said adding that they were under close observation.