4 of family burnt in fire

Four of a family including two children were burnt in a fire believed to be originated from a gas leak in Narayanganj's Araihazar upazila yesterday morning.

The injured are: Solaiman Hossain (44), a cloth trader; his wife Rima Akter (30); their sons Mushfiqur Rahman Mahid (13), a sixth grader of a local school, and Mahmudul Hasan Arosh (5). They were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.

Solaiman sustained 95 percent burns, Rima 15 percent, Mahid 16 percent while Arosh had five percent burns. Solaiman was shifted to ICU.

The fire originated at the house on the ground floor at Kumarpara around 6:00am as Solaiman lit a match stick to boil water. It engulfed the house immediately, injured Rima said at the hospital.

The family suspected that gas, leaking from the cylinder used for cooking, caused the fire. Mahid's aunt Hawa Begum, who lives in a nearby room, said they rushed to the house hearing a loud explosion. Rozina Akter, duty officer of fire service, said they did not receive information on the fire but they will investigate it.