A couple who suffered severe burns in an explosion caused by a leaking cooking gas cylinder in Tongi, Gazipur, have died while undergoing treatment in Dhaka. Their 16-year-old daughter remains in critical condition.
Tongi West police station Officer-in-Charge Arifur Rahman confirmed the deaths on Thursday at 12:30pm.
The couple, identified as Lal Chan Mia, 60, and his wife, Nasima, 50, died at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in the capital on Wednesday around 8pm, according to hospital and police sources.
Their daughter, Tanisha, is being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU).
Dr Sultan Mahmud Sikdar, a resident surgeon at the institute, said all three patients were in critical condition when they were admitted, having suffered extensive burns.
Tanisha sustained burns to 86% of her body and was placed in the Female High Dependency Unit (FHDU). Nasima suffered burns to 85% of her body, while Lal Chan sustained burns to 95% of his body.
The family lived in a rented house owned by Fakhrul Hasan near Master Bari in the Mudafa area, Ward 52, under Tongi West police station in Gazipur.
According to OC Arifur Rahman, the incident occurred around 6am on Wednesday at the family’s rented home in the Cherag Ali area of Tongi. Gas leaked from a cooking cylinder pipe and accumulated inside the house before igniting in an explosion.
The fire left Lal Chan, Nasima and their daughter severely burned. Neighbours rescued them and took them to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery for treatment.
The couple’s bodies were handed over to their family after the completion of legal formalities.
