4 missing in oil tanker blast in Jhalakathi
Four people suffered burn injuries and 4 more remained missing after an oil tanker exploded on the Sugandha river in Jhalakathi this afternoon.
The incident occurred around 2:00pm near the Jhalakathi municipality boat ferry terminal. The oil tanker was carrying nine crew on board. Of them, the cook of the vessel was rescued unharmed, reports our Pirojpur correspondent.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The oil tanker, Sagar Nandini- 2, was stationed there after carrying 11 lakh litres of fuel oil from Chattogram to Jhalakathi. The fuel oil belonged to the Padma Oil Company.
With seven lakh litres of diesel and four lakh litres of petrol, the oil tanker left Chattagram on Tuesday and reached Jhalakathi on Thursday, said Shariful Islam, a marketing officer of the Padma Oil Company.
"It was scheduled to release the oil in Jhalakathi oil depot today," he has said.
The burn victims are Mainul Islam Hridoy, 25, Md Sakil Ahmed, 23, Faridul Islam Patoary, 60, and Ikbal Hossain, 27.
The identity of the missing crew could not be known.
The four burnt victims are undergoing treatment at Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital's burn unit.
Six firefighting units from Jhalakathi and nearby upazilas took the fire under control after two hours and recovered the four injured, said Md Liton Ahmed, deputy assistant director of fire service and civil defence in Barisal, adding they are not sure what triggered the explosion.
However, they couldn't find the four others aboard the oil tanker, he said, adding only the cook was recovered unharmed from the explosion. He is now under cops' supervision, he added.
Sakil, on the injured crew, said accumulated gas in the engine room might have caused the blast. The explosion was so powerful that the back side of the engine room known as the master breeze flew off from the vessel into the river, he added.
The victims were first taken to the Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital. They were later shifted to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital for better treatment.
The district administration has formed a three-member probe committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner (general) Md Ruhul Amin, said Farah Gul Nijhum, deputy commissioner (DC) of Jhalakathi.
"We are trying to unload the fuel from the affected oil tanker," said the DC, fearing more hazards from it.
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