Family members of the victims who were killed in a gas cylinder explosion break down in tears at Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital
DHAKA, Oct 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police say at least five children have died and 17 others were injured after a gas cylinder used to inflate balloons exploded near a school in Rupnagar Residential area of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.
Police Chief Abul Kalam Azad said the explosion took place Wednesday when a vendor was selling balloons to children who live in a nearby slum in Dhaka’s Rupnagar area.
The children who died were between ages 7 and 14. Azad said the death toll could rise.
The cause of the explosion was not clear immediately.
“The cylinder exploded when a vendor was pumping up balloons in Monipur School area around 3.30 pm, leaving five people dead on the spot and seven others critically injured,” Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Rupnagar Police Station Abdul Kalam Azad told BSS.
“The injured were rushed to different nearby hospitals,” he said.
The deceased were identified as Shahin,10, Ramjan, 8, Jannat, 14, Nupur, 7 and Farzana, 9. Most of the victims are inhabitants of a nearby slum and some are their relatives, locals said.
Of the injured, 15 were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital while two were admitted to Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, the hospital sources said.
The children gathered there to buy balloons, the police official said adding that the death toll may increase.
A witness said he saw 10 to 12 children lying on the ground after the blast. Then, they informed the matter to the police and took the injured to hospital, he said.
An official of fire service and civil defence said the bodies were mutilated in the gas cylinder explosion.
Anwar Hossain, senior station officer of Mirpur Fire Service, said they handed over five bodies–three females and two males — to police.
Uttam Kumar Barua, director of Suhrawardy Medical Medical College Hosptial, said 12 people were taken to the hospital. Of them, five were dead and two were shifted to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. — NNN-AGENCIES
