Jatrabari Gas Explosion: 70-year-old victim succumbs to burns
Atar Begum, the 70-year old victim of Friday's gas explosion in the capital's Jatrabari, succumbed to her burn injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) last night.
Bachhu Mia, in-charge of DMCH police outpost, told The Daily Star that Atar passed away around 8:00pm.
Meanwhile, relatives of victims of the fire are now struggling to manage treatment costs.
Sumon, 40, and his wife Sajuly, 35, both cleaners working at a private organisation, and their son Nishan, 14, are undergoing treatment at the burn unit of DMCH.
Atar and Nishan were undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit, with 75 and 50 percent burns respectively.
Sumon's family has been living in the house for the last eight years, paying Tk 2,500 per month as rent.
“We have already spent Tk 50,000 for their treatment in the last three days, most of which is loan from others taken with high interest rate,” said Sumon's father-in-law Abdur Rouf, an auto-rickshaw driver.
He said other relatives are also helping them but they are also very poor. “It is a major challenge for us as treatment of burn patients is expensive,” he said.
Sumon has 38 percent burns while his wife Sajuly has 25 percent. Their treatment may go on for a month, and it will take over Tk 1 lakh to continue treatment, burn unit sources said.
“We only have Tk 4,000 given by the owner of the house,” said Rouf, adding that they did not get any money as compensation from others.
Kazi Wazed Ali, officer-in-charge of Jatrabari Police Station, earlier said they suspect the explosion happened from accumulated gas when someone attempted to light a stove on the ground floor of the two-storey building in Dhalpur, around 8:30am on Friday. Tahsin, a nursery student from another family living in the two-storey building in Dhalpur City Colony, died on the spot during the incident.
Part of the building's wall collapsed on him when he was coming down the stairs from the first floor, the OC added.
Sumon's family lived on the ground floor of the building.
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