A 15-year old boy and his 18-month old brother, two of the family of five who got burnt in a fire at their home at Dhaka’s Uttara on Friday, have died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Shahalin Bin Shahnewaz and his little brother Jayan Bin Shahnewaz passed away at around 5:15pm and 6:15pm, respectively, at the hospital’s burns unit, resident physician Dr Partha Shankar Paul told bdnews24.com.
Both brothers had sustained more than 70 percent burns, DMCH police outpost Inspector Mozammel Haque had said earlier quoting doctors.
The fire had originated at around 7am from a gas burner in the kitchen of the family’s flat on the top floor of a six-storey building at Uttara Sector-13, Fire Service officials said.
The three other injured are Shahalin’s father Md Shahnewaz, 50, mother Sumaia Akter, 40, and his another brother ‘Jarif’, 11.
Inspector Haque earlier said Shahnewaz suffered 95 percent burns on his body and Akter sustained 90 percent.
According to him, only Jarif was out of danger.
Fire fighters said there might have been a fault in the gas burner or pipeline, from where gas leaked and filled the entire kitchen.
The fire broke out when someone from the family tried to ignite the burner.
Police said Shahnewaz is an employee at the US embassy in Dhaka.
His sister Armin Nishat told reporters at the hospital that the family had moved to the flat a week ago.
Quoting her brother and sister-in-law, Nishat said they had smelled gas ever since and informed the landlord Mirza Delwar Hossain but he did nothing.
West Uttara Police Station OC Md Ali Hossain said the family was yet to inform police about the leak in the pipe.
“We’ll take measure once they file a complaint,” he added.
Referring to the Fire Service, he said either the stove was open, or there was a leak in the pipe.