A leaked underground gas pipeline exploded, damaging and setting at least two vehicles on fire and injuring several people, on Mirpur Road in Dhaka’s Asad Gate area on Wednesday.
The incident took place in front of Sunrise Plaza, near Dhanmondi Road No 27, around 4:10pm, Mohammadpur police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Enamul told the Dhaka Tribune.
One fire-fighting unit rushed to the scene and doused the fire on the bus, said Duty Officer Mizanur Rahman at Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters.
He said at least eight people were injured in the incident. They were rushed to different hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Fire Service personnel and police had immediately cordoned off and secured the scene after halting and diverting traffic on that side of the Mirpur Road to avoid further complication.
Mohammadpur police’s Assistant SI Jomshed Ahmed said officials of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, which is responsible for gas distribution in the capital, arrived at the scene soon after and started working on fixing the leaked pipeline.
However, why the explosion occurred is yet to be known.
Following the pipeline explosion near Asad Gate, gas supply to Shukrabad, Mohammadpur, Kalabagan, Zigatola, Kallyanpur, parts of Old Dhaka, Dhanmondi and Mirpur areas was suspended.
Apart from the aforementioned areas, residents of Green Road, Farmgate, Razabazar, Gabtoli, Shyamoli, Adabor and Hazaribagh areas had also faced low pressure on the gas supply due to the leakage.
When contacted, Titas Deputy General Aramnur Reza Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune that a technical team of the company repaired the eight-inch pipeline and gas supply resumed around 10pm.
Earlier on Friday evening, another big pipeline leck was reported in city gas station at Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka. The problem led to gas outage and low pressure in parts of the capital city, which was finally sorted out after more than 36 hours.
Titas also stopped gas supply for 12 hours from 6pm on Tuesday for the replacement of pipelines at Shahbagh due to the metro rail project.
