On Sept 4, scores of Muslim worshippers congregated at the Baitus Salat mosque in Narayanganj’s Fatullah to perform their customary nightly prayers. But in a devastating turn of events, multiple near-simultaneous blasts ripped through the two-storey structure, leaving 31 people dead.
The inquiries into the incident started in earnest with the authorities suspecting that gas accumulation inside the mosque triggered the explosions. State utility Titas subsequently dug the surrounding areas to check the lines.
They subsequently discovered six leaks in a pipeline that passed below the mosque. But while the line had purportedly been abandoned for nearly 22 years, gas was still flowing through it as the transmission had not been turned off.
Fire Service officials believe the blasts were sparked by a gas leak from that pipeline.
In 1988, another gas pipe was installed to provide gas to the nearby houses, but the older line still had gas running through it.
However, local officials of Titas could not explain why that was the case. They believe customers whose gas supply was connected to the old pipe ‘should have informed’ Titas after the new pipeline was installed. That is the reason why the supply through the old pipeline was not disconnected, according to them.
But the managing director of Titas, Ali Mohd Al-Mamun, disagreed with the explanation of the local official. It was the local office of Titas which should have taken measures to disconnect the abandoned gas line, he said.
Mosque committee leaders said they “smelled” gas in the mosque about 10-12 days before the incident. But they could not provide a satisfactory explanation for why the windows were not kept open after that.
Worshippers wanted the airconditioners at the mosque to switched on because of the heat outside at the time, according to a shopkeeper who had left the mosque just before the explosions. Therefore the windows had to be closed when the air-conditioners were turned on, he said.
More than 50 Muslim worshippers sustained burn injuries in the blasts.
Initially, it was assumed that the blasts were caused by the six air-conditioners installed in the mosque. But later it was learned that gas from leaked underground pipelines had accumulated inside the building, with an electrical short-circuit causing a fire which sparked the fatal blasts, according to the Fire Service.
Source: bdnews24.com
