6 sued over ship blast
The owner and five labour contractors of Rahim Steel were sued in connection with Saturday's blast that left four people dead and 13 others injured at its ship-breaking yard.
Sub-inspector (SI) Azam of Sitakunda Police Station filed the case under sections 285/287 and 304 on Saturday night.
The accused are: Owner of the yard Mohammad Israfil and labour contractors Mohammad Alam (1), Jafor Ahmed, Mohammad Yusuf, Abu Saleh and Mohammad Alam (2).
SI Azam told The Daily Star the six were sued for their negligence as they failed to ensure safety measures before the use of fire in the highly combustible oil tank that led to the explosion causing casualties at the yard.
However, confusion arose over the name of the owner in the case as police wrote the name as Mohammad Israfil while the employees at the Rahim Steel Mills Company (Pvt) Limited head office in Dhaka and those at the ship-breaking yard in Chittagong identified the owner as Abdur Rahim.
They said Mohammad Israfil is the yard's project director. Asked, Officer-in-Charge (OC) Monirul Islam of Sitakunda Police Station said that they would verify the name and, if found wrong, correct it accordingly.
Meanwhile, Department of Environment (DoE) Chittagong Director Abdus Sobhan said they would carry out a departmental investigation into the blast.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Md Zakir Hossain said, “Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Sitakunda has already submitted a report on the blast.”
Chittagong district administration yesterday formed a two-member committee headed by Chittagong Additional District Magistrate ABM Azad to investigate the Saturday's blast.
The committee was asked to submit the probe report by December 31, said Zakir Hossain.
Four workers were killed and 13 others injured in an explosion while cutting oil tank of a ship at the yard on Saturday morning.
Six of the injured were undergoing treatment at Medical Centre (pvt) Hospital in the city while severely injured one was sent to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated, hospital sources said.
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