Gas cylinder blast in Noakhali leaves 3 dead

Three people were killed and two were burnt in a fire caused by a gas cylinder explosion in Hatia upazila of Noakhali last night.

At least 16 shops were gutted in the devastating fire, said Jashim Uddin Majumder, assistant director of Noakhali district fire service.

The deceased are: Mahibul Islam Nipu (40) of Begumganj upazila, and Khaled Hasan (45) and Rahmat Ullah (35) of Hatia upazila.

The explosion took place at an oil shop owned by Mahibul at Chairmanghat Bazar when someone was cooking for seven employees of the shop last night, our local correspondent reports.

The gas cylinder went off with a big bang around 10:00pm, according to locals.

On information, three fire fighting units rushed there and rescued Khaled from the shop, who was burnt severely, Fire service official Jashim said.

Two hours after their hectic effort, they managed to extinguish the blaze and found the bodies of Mahibul and Rahmat.

Khaled was first admitted to Noakhali General Hospital from where he was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, said Hatia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Abul Khair.

He died at the DMCH around 6:30am today, the OC added.

The two other injured took primary treatment, locals said.

Local administration and fire service formed two committees to investigate the incident.