Police suspect the explosion was caused by a gas leakage and sparks from an anti-mosquito racket caused the fire
A woman and her two daughters suffered burn injuries in a fire that broke out following an explosion at a residential building on Shaheed Shahidullah Kaiser Road in Feni on Friday night, police said.
The victims have been identified as Meherunnesa, wife of an expatriate, and their two daughters Farah Islam and Hafsa Islam.
Feni’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Khandaker Nurunnabi, while briefing the media on Saturday afternoon, said: “The explosion occurred due to a gas leakage. We suspect that sparks from an anti-mosquito racket caused the fire.”
According to police, the explosion occurred on the fifth floor of the six-storey Shafique Mansion around 12am on Friday, following which the fire broke out.
Abul Kalam, a caretaker of the building, rushed to the fourth floor and spotted the trio lying on the floor. He immediately rushed them to a local hospital.
The blast damaged the window panes of flats on other floors of the building. A crack has also developed on the structure of the building, police said.
Dr Nayan Chandra Debnath, a doctor at the emergency department of the hospital, said the condition of two of the victims – Meherunnesa and Hassa – “is critical” as both of them sustained 60% burns.
They were shifted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery for better treatment, he added.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Feni Model police station Mohammad Alamgir Hossain said: “The building has been badly damaged following the explosion. We are guarding the building.”
