‘Everything went dark, I felt like I was in a vacuum'

"I suddenly heard a loud bang when I was going to the oxygen plant from the maintenance department inside the factory. The entire place became completely dark. I felt like I was floating in a vacuum. I thought I was no more a part of the world," said 40-year-old Ripon Marak, a survivor of the blast at a steel re-rolling mill in Chattogram's Sitakunda upazila.

Ripon is one of the injured in an explosion at the oxygen plant in Kadamrusul area this afternoon that left six people dead and over 25 injured.

A blast went off at the oxygen plant at Shema Oxygen Oxico Ltd, a subsidiary of Sheema Automatic Re-Rolling Mills Limited, in Kadamrusul area, next to the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway this afternoon.

While talking to The Daily Star from Chattogram Medical College Hospital, Ripon said he has been working as a mechanic in the maintenance department of the factory's oxygen plant for four years. He was taken to the hospital with injuries to his back.

"A few minutes after the explosion, I managed to find my way around. I then went back to the maintenance room and found factory foreman Narayan Das lying on the ground. We later came to the hospital in a pick-up," said Ripon.

"I still cannot believe that I am alive. I no longer want to continue my job at the oxygen plant. I want to go to my village home," he further added.

Ripon, a father of two sons and a daughter, has hailed from Arapara village of Netrakona's Durgapur upazila.