4 burn victims fight for life in hospital

Four persons critically burnt in a fire, which broke out at a city oil storehouse yesterday, are fighting for life in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Jalal Hossain, 32, Shamsul Haque, 40, and Anisur Rahman, 35, suffered burns over about 90 percent of their bodies while Tajul Islam Rony, 22, had burns over 35 percent of his body, sources at DMCH burn unit said.
The victims were employees of Rony Traders, a tin-roofed one-story diesel storehouse at Dogair Demra, a residential area. It caught fire around 3:25pm yesterday, burning out 9,000 litres of diesel it had stored. The source of the fire could not be detected immediately.
Monir Hossain, assistant director (Dhaka Division) of Fire Service and Civil Defence, told The Daily Star that six units of fire fighters doused the flames at 4:40pm.
In the 8,000 square-foot warehouse, having mud floor, the diesel was kept in tanks and steel, plastic barrels. A number of steel containers exploded and the tin roof collapsed when fire fighters were trying to put out the flames.
There were fire extinguishers inside the godown, but those were of no use once the fire engulfed the oil storehouse, he said.
The fire created panic among people in the area.
Najmul Islam, an owner of the godown, said there was no direct electricity line to the warehouse. It ran with a generator, and there was no scope of fire originating from an electric short circuit, he said.
During the fire, the four victims were working inside the godown and he took the injured workers to DMCH, he said.
Nurul Muttakin, officer-in-charge (OC) of Demra Police Station, said the owners told him that they had all necessary documents for running the godown legally in the residential area.
He said police were investigating the incident.