Aftabnagar fire: Man dies after wife, daughter

After losing his wife and the youngest daughter, Toffazzal Hossain, who suffered burn in a fire in Dhaka's Aftabnagar, died early today.

He succumbed to burn injuries around 5:30am while being treated in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, said Dr Shaon bin Rahman, residential surgeon of the burn institute.

He suffered over 80 percent burn, he said.

With him, three out of five injured in the fire died so far.

Earlier, Toffazzal's wife, Mansura Akter, 28, and their four-year-old daughter Tanzila had died.

The couple's two other daughters—Tanisha, 11, and Mithi, 8—are still undergoing treatment.

Tanisha suffered 30 percent burns while Mithi suffered 60 percent. Both are in critical condition, according to doctors.

The fire broke out following a suspected gas leak explosion at their rented ground-floor flat in South Anandnagar area of Aftabnagar around 11:30pm last Friday.

According to family members, a nearby building was under construction, and workers had reportedly damaged a gas line during digging work. "We had informed the landlord about the gas leak in the morning of that day, but no action was taken," said Md Ripon, Toffazzal's brother-in-law. Later that night, while a mosquito coil was lit inside the flat, a blast occurred, setting the entire room ablaze.