2 children among four burnt in Hazaribagh water tank explosion

Two children are among four people who suffered burns in an explosion while cleaning a water tank at a house in Dhaka's Hazaribagh yesterday afternoon.

The injured are Zia Uddin, 45, a leather trader, his daughters Nazia Sultana Rafia, 8, and Faria Sultana, 3, and a tenant of the house Belal Hossain, 30, who is a day labourer.

The explosion occurred at Zia's two-storey house near Tannery Intersection around 4:00pm, his nephew HM Shah Poran said.

Belal was cleaning the underground water tank and tried to light up the inside by connecting an electric bulb as it was dark.

At that time, Zia and his daughters were standing nearby.

Suddenly, an explosion occurred -- believed to have been caused by accumulated gas inside the tank -- leaving all four injured.

They were initially rushed to a nearby private hospital and later transferred to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery for better treatment.

Dr Shawon Bin Rahman, resident surgeon at the burn institute, told The Daily Star that Belal suffered burns on 17 percent of his body, while Zia, Faria, and Rafia sustained burns of four, five, and six percent respectively.

"Except for Belal, the rest were released after treatment as their conditions were stable," the doctor said.