UTTARA GAS EXPLOSION : Father follows sons in death

Another victim of the gas pipe leak explosion at Uttara died from his burn injuries Saturday afternoon, raising the death toll to three of a family in the incident that occurred Friday morning.
Shah Newaz, 50, a maintenance engineer at US embassy in Dhaka, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital at around 5:45pm, the hospital burn unit resident surgeon Partha Sankar Paul told New Age.
Newaz, along with his wife and three minor sons were admitted to DMCH with severe burn injuries Friday morning.
His two sons, Salil Bin Newaz, 15, and Zaran Bin Newaz, a 14-month-old boy, died Friday afternoon.
The condition of Newaz’s wife Sumaya Akter deteriorated Saturday, said Partha.
Another son who survived in the tragic accident, Zarif, 10, is now out of danger, he said.
He was taken to a relative’s home from the hospital Friday night, said Newaz’s younger brother Quamrul Ahsan.
Zarif is a class IV student of Milestone School in the city.
The news of Newaz’s death came when the bodies of his two minor sons were on way to their village home in Jhalakathi in the afternoon.
The bodies of the two minors were sent to Jhalakathi Saturday morning, said their uncle Quamrul.
Quamrul, an official of security agency, G4S, said Newaz’s family was supposed to go to USA with service immigrant visa in 2017.
‘But our dream has been shattered,’ he lamented.
He said Newaz was second among their four brothers and the most affluent.
Their elderly mother, who used to stay with Newaz’s family, luckily survived the accident as she was not at the house on the night, he said.
Newaz’s nephew, Nazmus Sakib, accused the DMCH authorities of negligence of duty.
He alleged they did not get proper treatment as most of the time there were not enough nurses and doctors to take care of the victims.
Meanwhile, the Titas Gas authorities said the fire had originated from a troubled gas line inside the kitchen.
Besides, the burner was not properly turned off, they said.
‘What we have found is that the burner was not properly turned off and there was a defective gas line in the kitchen,’ Titas’s deputy general manager Faizar Rahman told reporters at his office Saturday.
He also said Titas recently found that gas was leaking into households through sewerage lines because of damage to gas lines as a result of frequent road cutting.
Fire Service officer-in-charge Anayet Hossain that they had formed a probe committee headed by deputy assistant director Abdul Halim to investigate the incident.

News Courtesy: www.cnn.com