SEVEN DEAD, DOZENS INJURED IN BANGLADESH AS BUILDING COLLAPSES AFTER EXPLOSION

Sun 27 June 2021:

At least seven people have died and hundreds more were injured as a result of an explosion that caused the collapse of a building in the Mogbazar neighborhood of Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shafiqul islam said.

“We are investigating the cause of the blast and a probe body has been formed to report by seven working days,” Sazzad Hussain, director-general of Fire Service and Civil Defense, told media.

Citing the preliminary police report and the initial documents on the spot, Hussain confirmed the casualties, adding that the injured were shifted to the country’s main public hospital, Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Police said the explosion was so forceful that it broke the windows of at least four moving buses, injuring dozens of passengers on board.

Dhaka police chief Shafiqur Rahman said at least seven people were killed in the explosion, though the fire service offered a lower death toll of three. Police and fire service officials said 50 people were injured.

“Fire service officers are at the scene. They will investigate the reason of the explosion. But primarily we believe methane gas accumulated and concentrated in the pipeline and then exploded in the ground floor,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner Syed Nurul islam told AFP.

He ruled out foul play, saying the Bangladeshi capital has witnessed several similar explosions in recent years.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that they had heard a heavy sound at around 19.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT).

“I have never ever in my life heard such a monstrous sound and saw that glasses of the surrounding building were broken down,” Md. Shamsul Alam, an eyewitness of the Moghbajar wireless gate area in central Dhaka where the incident took place, told Anadolu Agency.

Hussain, however, added that 13 units of the Fire Service took part in the rescue operation along with members of regular law enforcement agencies.

The blast blocked the traffic in the area for hours, causing heavy traffic jams in most parts of Dhaka.

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