Staff Reporter :
Six persons, including four children, died after a gas cylinder used to inflate balloons exploded in the Rupnagar Residential at Mirpur Area on Wednesday afternoon.
At least 21 others were also reportedly injured in the blast. The death toll may rise.
The deceased have been icdentified as Ramzan, 8, Nupur, 10, Shahin, 7, and Jannat, 14, and Moriyam 30, Police said.
“A vendor was inflating balloons using a gas cylinder placed on a van near a slum, the inspector said, citing witnesses. The van was surrounded by a lot of people, some of whom were buying balloons, when the cylinder suddenly exploded,” said Rupnagar Police Station Inspector Mokammel Hoque.
Three units of the fire service were dispatched to the scene to conduct the rescue efforts, said Anwar Hossain, a senior fire service official.
“Four of the victims were children while the other was a woman aged about 30,” he said.
The injured have been shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
“Of them, four are adults while the rest are children. Two of the injured are in critical condition according to doctors,” said Bacchu Mia, Inspector of DMCH’s police outpost.
The death toll may rise as most of the injured patients are in critical conditions, he said quoting the on-duty doctors.
Abdul Kalam Azad, Officer-in-Charge (OC) Rupnagar Police Station, said that the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals, afterwards were shifted to DMCH.
