Around 150 people have sustained injuries from air conditioner (AC) explosions in the last five years.
Doctors said that for burn injury patients, their survival depends on the percentage of burns they sustain in their trachea. They also said most patients sustaining burn injuries from air conditioner explosions remain in a critical condition as their trachea gets burnt in most cases, due to being in a closed room.
Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery Coordinator, Dr Samanta
Lal Sen, told The New Nation on Sunday around 100-150 people have sustained burn injuries in the last five years and about 30-35 of them died.
Last Friday night’s incident at the Baitus Salat Jam-e-Mosque in Narayanganj district just outside the capital, Dhaka, around 40 people suffered burn injuries. Of them, a total of 37 injured were taken to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka. “One of the injured succumbed to his injuries on his way to Dhaka in the night while the other 24 died at the burn institute since Sunday” he added.
Dr Sen, who has long been engaged in treating patients with burn injuries, said burn victims from air conditioner explosions are on the rise in the last five years.
He also pointed out that those who survive burn injuries lead an inhuman and miserable life. “Awareness of air conditioner explosions is limited among people. Shops with air conditioners have to be brought under close monitoring and need higher surveillance,” he said.
Dr Sen also emphasized inspecting and monitoring the condition of air conditioners in homes after a certain period of time. Proprietor of Sunflower Engineering Works at Moghbazar, Shariful Islam, said air conditioners need servicing and maintenance at least twice a year to detect problems and keep people safe from any accident.
“The air conditioner will explode if there is any gas related problem inside, a short circuit, or if there is a fire at a house when the AC is running. In many cases, compressors get jammed which may cause a gas leak leading to an explosion,” he added. He also advised people not to run air conditioners for over eight hours straight at a time.
Although air conditioner blasts appear to be common, though with few casualties in the country, a blast of this magnitude has not been reported here in the last few decades.
