Four employees were seriously burnt in a container explosion yesterday at Taji Agro-Industry Ltd in Achintapur village in Jhenidah's Sadar upazila.

The injured are Frank, 55, a Chinese citizen, Monir, 31, son of Mosharraf Hossain of the village, Jalal Hossain, 39, son of Shahjahan Mollah of the same village, and Jobair Hossain, 26, son of Solaiman Bhuiya of Dhaka.

Monir is a security guard, Jalal is a labourer and Jobair is a caretaker at the factory. Frank's designation could not be known immediately.

 Locals said they were working near the factory at around 8:30am when they heard a huge sound. They rushed to the spot and found that a container had exploded and the factory was on fire. Four people suffered burn injuries.

The injured were immediately taken to Jhenidah Sadar Hospital.

Jobair and Jalal were referred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) burn unit and were taken there in an ambulance, while Frank was taken to DMCH burn unit in a helicopter. Monir is undergoing treatment at Jhenidah Sadar hospital.

Miraj Uddin, station officer of the fire fighting unit of Jhenidah, said, on information they along with Magura unit reached the spot and brought the fire under control after frantic efforts.

He added that the there might have been some flammable material in the container that caused the fire. At the time around 70 workers were working in the factory. The fire fighters brought them out safely.

The loss caused by the explosion could be around Tk one crore.

Dr Jahidur Rahman, surgery consultant of Jhenidah Sadar Hospital, said Monir suffered 20 percent burns, Frank 70 percent, Jalal 45 percent and Jobair 25 percent.