Another gas line explosion caused by lack of maintenance

We are deeply saddened by the deaths of four people—three of whom belonged to the same family—and for the three injured in a gas explosion incident this past Wednesday at a building in the capital's Mirpur-11. The fire occurred on the ground floor of the six-storey building when local technician Sazzad Hossain Suman (one of the deceased) was called by the building owner to clear a gas pipe which was clogged by rainwater. However, when Suman lit a stove to check if the gas line was working again, gas from the leaky pipe was still trapped in the kitchen, and that caused the explosion.

This incident unfortunately rings familiar for us due to its resemblance to the Moghbazar building explosion earlier in June which killed 11 people and injured 50 or more. Unlike the recent Mirpur incident, the Moghbazar explosion was caused by a huge amount of methane gas (from a leaked gas pipeline and sewerage line) being accumulated inside the building, according to a probe report by the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (BFSCD). However, the aspect of similarity between the two incidents is in Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company's denial of having played any part in the tragedies.

The probe committee for the Moghbazar explosion recommended "replacing old pipelines of Titas" that it found in the building. Titas gas, however, denied supplying its connections to the building. As for the Mirpur incident from Wednesday, the building owner's father alleged that he was forced to contact the local technician as his "at least 20" calls regarding the clogged gas line were met with no response by Titas Gas. Here, too, a customer service provider at the Mirpur Zone of Titas Gas Emergency claimed that no such complaints were received.

Whatever the case may be, as the major service provider for gas across the country, Titas has an obligation to periodically check for any leaks or irregularities in their gas pipelines. The fact remains that "at least 722 fires at gas lines were reported last year" and that leaky gas pipes were the fourth most common cause of all fires reported last year, according to Fire Service data.   Given such prevalence of this dangerous phenomena, it is the duty of not only building owners to ensure that their premises are well-ventilated, but also of government authorities and service providers to be vigilant in preventing such ghastly and frequent incidents of fire.