Powerful explosion in Dhaka kills seven, injures hundreds; police suspect gas leak
Dhaka: A powerful explosion that destroyed an old three-storey building in a crowded area here in Bangladesh's capital and killed at least seven people and injured around 400 others may have been caused by a faulty gas line or gas cylinders, authorities said on Monday.
Police have ruled out any foul play behind the horrific explosion in Moghbazar area at around 7.30 PM on Sunday and said the initial investigation of the site suggests that the explosion might have been caused by "gas accumulation".
Authorities suspect the building that collapsed was the epicentre of the explosion as it had a restaurant and a faulty gas line or gas cylinders used by it could be the reason behind the blast.
The blast was so powerful that the shock wave smashed the glasses of nearly a dozen buildings around it.
Seven nearby buildings and two passenger buses were badly damaged in the blast that killed seven people and injured 400, some 50 of them critically, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shafiqul Islam said late Sunday.
The severely injured were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
The Dhaka Community hospital treated almost 300 victims, AZM Rahmatullah Shabuj, outdoor in charge of the hospital, said, adding that they treated victims who mostly had cuts in their bodies or their heads.
Most of them had cuts from the glass shards. Many had wounds in their heads, Sabuj said.
On the possibility of the explosion being deliberate, the Police Commissioner told bdnews, It doesn't look like that to me. If that was the case or had a bomb been exploded, people would've been ravaged by splinters."
I've gathered from the fire service personnel that gas had accumulated here," he said.
Fire Brigade chief Brigadier General Sajjad Hossain said primary evidence suggested that the explosion was triggered by a leak after the accumulation of gas.
There were gas cylinders at a restaurant at the ground floor of the building and air-conditioners at a showroom upstairs. There were gas cylinders also at the road construction site at the scene...investigations have been launched, Hossain said.
According to residents in the neighbourhood, the explosion rocked the part of the city spreading panic while television footage showed broken pillars, concrete and glass shards strewn across the street at the scene in the central part of the country's capital.
I was on a bus when the explosion occurred. I jumped out of it through a narrow window of the vehicle, initially thinking the bus gas cylinder exploded... never experienced such a big explosion in my life, 50-year-old Tajul Islam, who received injuries on his waist and complained of hearing impairment due to the explosion, told PTI.
Another witness said he saw a fireball go over his head and the explosion turned everything dark and smoky in his vicinity while pieces of glass started to shower from above.
The sound was so huge... it scared everyone, he told a TV channel.
According to witnesses, soon after the explosion the buses and cars crashed into one another and panic-gripped passengers struggled to get out of the vehicles.
Several residents of an apartment building in the area came downstairs following the explosion.
One of them, Mufakar Ul Islam, added: We are at a distance here. Still, several glasses of our apartment were shattered."
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Chamoli hydropower tunnel train collision: 88 injured, magisterial probe ordered
Gopeshwar/Dehradun (PTI): Chamoli District Magistrate Gaurav Kumar on Wednesday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the collision between two loco trains inside the Pipalkoti tunnel of the under-construction Vishnugad-Pipalkoti hydropower project, which left 88 people injured.
Earlier in the day, Kumar said that the accident occurred around 8.30 pm on Tuesday at the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) site inside the tunnel being built by THDC (India).
A loco train carrying workers for tunnel excavation during the night shift was about two kilometres inside the tunnel when another loco train coming from the opposite direction lost control and collided with it.
One of the trains had workers and officials on board, while the other carried material.
Upon receiving information about the collision, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered proper treatment for the injured. He spoke to the DM over the phone and instructed him to ensure that all the injured receive the best possible medical facilities.
DM Kumar and Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Panwar met the injured at the Gopeshwar District Hospital.
Kumar said 109 people were on board the loco train at the time of the accident, most of them labourers. None of the injured was serious, he said.
He said that 88 of them were injured, although none of them are in serious condition. They said that 84 workers were discharged after receiving first aid, while four are still hospitalized.
DM Kumar and SP Panwar also inspected the project site and sought detailed information about the incident from the project officials.
They instructed them to strictly implement all necessary safety standards to prevent a recurrence of such an incident in the future.
After inspection, the DM issued orders for a magisterial inquiry into the accident caused by the collision of the loco trains.
Meanwhile, the Railways said the trains involved in the collision had no connection with it.
"It is clarified that this unfortunate incident occurred in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, involving a trolley used in the local transportation system during the construction of a hydroelectric project tunnel. The train referred to in the news reports is not an Indian Railways train, but a transportation system being used locally by the project team," the government entity said in a statement.
According to officials, rail-like vehicles are used to transport workers, employees, and materials for construction work inside the tunnel.
The project, being built between Helang and Pipalkoti on the Alaknanda River, will generate 444 megawatts of electricity through four turbines. The project is targeted for completion by next year.
