8 suffer serious burns in restaurant gas cylinder blast in Bangladesh capital

Eight people received serious burns after a restaurant gas cylinder exploded in the old part of Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday evening.

The blast occurred at the shop at about 4:25 p.m., leaving eight people including two workers of the restaurant burnt, Fire Service Control Room official Mizanur Rahman told journalists.

He said the injured had initially been shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital from where they had been referred to its Burn Unit for treatment.

Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of the hospital, said all the victims remained in critical condition.

However, Rahman said the cylinder blast also triggered a huge fire. The cause of the blasts was not known immediately.

Twelve units of firefighters reportedly managed to douse the fire that engulfed the adjacent buildings in one of the most congested areas in the old part of the city which suffered Bangladesh's worst fire tragedy in 2010.

At least 120 people were killed in the fire on the night of June 3, 2010 that razed the narrow alleys of the old section of Dhaka, crammed with new additions to the decades old buildings.

Source: Xinhua