At least six children have died after a balloon vendor's gas cylinder exploded in the capital’s Mirpur.
The incident was reported around 3 pm on Wednesday (Oct 30) from the Rupnagar area, OC Shah Alam of Rupnagar police station told Bangla Tribune.
The deceased are Farzana, 7, Nupur, 11, Rubel, 10, Ramzan, 8, Shahin, 9 and Ria Moni, 10.
The bodies have been kept at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital.
Rupnagar police Sub Inspector Mokammel Hoque who was present at the hospital's Emergency Department said that five bodies came in and Ria died while undergoing treatment.
All six of the deceased lived in the Jheelpar (Fajr Ali Madbar) slum in the area.
Their families said that they are unable to afford the funeral costs and have asked for the government's help.
Four fire-fighting units rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire at 3:45pm, duty officer at the control room of Fire Service, Russel Shikder, said.
The injured have been taken to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), according to OC Alam of the Rupnagar police station.
Amongst the 14 people undergoing treatment at the burn unit, 13 have been identified as Meem, 8, Siam, 11, Mostakin, 8, Ojufa, 7, Taniya, 7, Jamila, 8, Sohel, 25, Jewel, 29, Jannat, 25, Neha, 8, Arnab, 10, Johny, 9 and Morsaleen, 10.
"Majority of the injured are children," said DMCH Emergency Department doctor Alauddin Ahmed and added that 4-5 of them are in critical condition.
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