Staff Reporter :
Five members of a family received burn injuries in a septic tank blast in a house of the city’s Dakkhin Khan area on Tuesday morning.
The injured are: Rumana Akhter, 30, wife of Mantu Miah, their daughter Monika Akhter, 8, Rumana’s brother Imran Hossain, 28, his wife Jannatul, 20, and their daughter Tasmia, 2.
They are undergoing treatment in the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) where condition of Rumana is stated to be critical as she suffered 60 per cent burn injuries, hospital sources said.
Lutfur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Dakkhin Khan Police Station, said, “The septic tank exploded and a one-storey building in the Fayedabad intersection area caught fire around 6:30am. Locals took the injured to the DMCH.”
Police have suspected that the explosion occurred when toxic gas of the septic tank came in contact with electricity, the police official said.
Quoting the doctors, DMCH police camp ASI Sentu Chandro Das said Rumana received 60 per cent burn injuries, Monika, 20 per cent, Imran 10 per cent, Tasmia 10 per cent and Jannatul eight per cent in the incident.
Earlier in September and October, six people were killed after inhaling toxic gas in separate incidents in Chittagong and Bogra.
Three labourers died inhaling toxic gas while cleaning a septic tank in an under-construction building at Karnafuli EPZ (KEPZ) area in Chittagong on September 27. On September 28, three people were killed after inhaling toxic gas in a septic tank of a paper mill at Kahaloo upazila in Bogra district. They went into the septic tank of the mill in a bid to clean it.
