A pregnant woman and two children were killed in a septic tank explosion in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj.
The septic tank situated under a four-storey apartment building at Dighirpar Mollarbari exploded around 6am on Friday.Two children on the ground floor apartment of the four-storey building and a pregnant woman in an adjacent tin shed house were killed, while four other adjacent buildings were damaged in the blast, confirmed Bandar police station OC Rafiqul Islam.The deceased were identified as Masnun, 12, and Jisan, 8, sons of Khurshed Alom and Runa Akhter, and Laboni Akter, 30, resident of an adjacent building.
Eight others, including two minors, were also injured and are undergoing treatment at different hospitals.
According to police and local sources, Masnun and Jisan were asleep in their room right above the septic tank when the explosion took place. Following the explosion, the wall of an adjacent building collapsed on a tin shed house and critically injured Laboni. She was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the duty doctor declared her dead.
Bandar police station OC Rafiqul Islam said: “The incident might’ve occurred due to a design flaw in building construction. The cause of the septic tank explosion is being investigated and a report will soon be submitted by city corporation engineers.”
Bandar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shukla Sarkar visited the scene and advised residents of the damaged buildings to take shelter elsewhere for the time being.
