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Download PDF At least one person was killed and 20 others were injured in yet another explosion of a gas cylinder of a CNG-run microbus yesterday in Panchabati area of Narayanganj.
The deceased was identified as Bakul Chandra Mandal, 40, a worker who was walking past the parked microbus.
A fireball from the explosion fell on a nearby garments factory igniting it too and burning valuables worth about Tk 10 lakh, claimed the proprietor of the factory.
Another 10 to 12 nearby shops were also damaged due to the explosion.
Ten of the injured were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), three of whom were admitted to the burn unit with critical injuries.
The government launched a clampdown on unauthorised CNG conversion workshops in February, in the wake of repeated fatal blasts of CNG cylinders installed in converted motor vehicles claiming numerous lives.
The unauthorised workshops are engaged in fitting motor vehicles with faulty and sub-standard CNG cylinders, which have a high chance of exploding.
Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) found 10 to 15 illegal conversion plants operating in the capital.
According to the Society for Urban Environmental Protection (SUEP), an NGO, at least 20 people were killed and 67 injured in CNG cylinder explosions since January 2007.
Witnesses of yesterday’s explosion said Iqbal, a trader from Panchabati area, was buying fruits parking his microbus on the roadside around 2:00pm. Suddenly the engine of the microbus caught fire spewing out smoke. Local people rushed to extinguish the fire.
At one stage, the gas cylinder of the microbus exploded, leaving Bakul and 20 others injured.
Iqbal, his wife, and a minor child got out of the microbus before the cylinder exploded.
Critically injured Bakul was rushed to Naryanganj Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Bakul, who hailed from Panchabati, was working for a local iron workshop.
The injured include Shafi, 25, Nannu, 25, Sajib, 20, Ashim, 25, Nasir, 25, Abul Kalam, 40, Masum, 30, Masud Rana, 20, Kalam, 30, Firoz, 20, Jasim, 20, Ridoy and Sagor.
The microbus was burnt so badly that its registration number could not even be deciphered from its number plate.
Fire fighters, local residents and workers of the nearby burning garments factory however managed to extinguish the fire there.
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