A woman has succumbed to burn injuries sustained in a gas pipe explosion during repair works in the Mirpur 11 area of Dhaka on Wednesday.
Rina Akter, 50, died while undergoing treatment at the ICU of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (SHNIBPS) at 10:20pm on Thursday.
She sustained 70% burns.
At least seven people, including a child, were left with critical burn injuries after the gas pipe exploded on the ground floor of a six-storey building in Block C of Mirpur 11 at around 11:15pm on Wednesday.
The injured were rescued and admitted to the emergency department of SHNIBPS soon afterwards.
All of them were in critical condition, said Dhaka Medical College Hospital police outpost In-Charge Inspector Md Bachchu Miah, quoting on-duty doctors.
Among the injured, Shafiqul Islam, 35, and Rawshan Ara Begum, 70, sustained 85% burns, and Md Sumon, 40, sustained 45% burns.
Of the other three, Renu Begum, 35, sustained 38% burns, Naznin, 25, 27%, and her daughter Nowshin, 5, sustained 15% burns.
Rafiqul Islam, owner of the building where the explosion occurred and son of the injured Rawshan Ara, said they had a repairman named Sumon come and fix the gas pipeline as gas flow in their building had been low over the past week.
“The sudden blast and subsequent fire occurred when Sumon lit a matchstick to light a stove to check the gas flow after repairs,” he said.
