The man who received burn injuries along with his wife and three children in a fire at his Uttara residence in the capital died yesterday, taking the death toll in the incident to three.
Fifty-year-old Shahnewaz succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s burn and plastic surgery institute around 6pm.
“Shahnewaz sustained 95% burns,” said Partha Shankar Paul, resident surgeon of the institute.
Shahnewaz’s younger son, 14-month-old Zayan, and elder son, 15-year-old Sharleen, died within 12 hours of the explosion caused by a gas leak in the kitchen on Friday.
“We have already dug two graves for the two minors and a third for their father, but we do not know if we will need to dig more,” Kamrul Ahsan, brother of Shahnewaz, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday evening.
Shahnewaz died around half an hour after US envoy to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat visited him at the hospital. He was working as a maintenance engineer at the US embassy in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, doctors said the condition of Shahnewaz’s wife Sumaiya had deteriorated.
With 95% burn injuries, she is undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Dr Partha said: “We are trying our best to offer all kinds of treatment that she needs but it is not possible to say something with certainty about patients of this kind.
“Shahnewaz and his two sons died from inhalation injury and Sumaiya is also having this problem,” he said.
The physician said the second son of the couple, Zarif, 9, was out of danger as his condition had improved.
“Zarif suffered 6% burns, but he is not mentally strong enough to endure this kind of accident,” added Dr Partha.
Shahnewaz’s brother Kamrul said the bodies of Zayan and Sharleen were sent to their maternal grandfather’s in Jhalakati of Barisal, as it is their mother’s wish that they be buried there.
“Sumaiya also asked us to lay her to rest at her hometown if anything happened to her,” he said.
“Zarif has not yet been informed that his father and two brothers have died. He still knows that they are undergoing treatment,” added Kamrul.
On Friday evening, Nishat, cousin of Shahnewaz, said Shahnewaz had complained about the gas leak ever since he moved in to the flat but the landlord paid no heed and took no action. She also demanded punishment of the landlord for his negligence.
Ali Hossain, officer-in-charge of Uttara West police station, told the Dhaka Tribune a probe had been launched and an unnatural death case had been filed by Shahnewaz’s brother.
“The doors and the windows of the flat were closed and gas leaked from the pipeline filled the house, resulting in the explosion,” he said.
He also suggested people to check gas pipelines carefully before moving in to new accommodations in order to avoid such accident.
