'Negligence caused Friday's blast at Ctg PDB station'

PDB (Power Development Board) lineman Abdul Monaf, his brother and PDB driver Abdul Wahab, work assistant Md Wajiullah and electrician Mohammad Idris are now in critical condition at a clinic in Dhaka, according to a message received here.

PDB sources here said the incident occurred at around 8.00am when Monaf, Wajiullah and Idris were mending defects in the transformer while driver Wahab was looking at. The transformer suddenly burst with a big bang, critically injuring the four.

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PDB Sources said the four were working as per a scheduled shut down, which requires adequate precautionary and safety measures and presence of engineers concerned.

"The sub-station has two circuit breakers, both linked with the Khulshi grid. Both the circuits were supposed to have been shut down before the repair work. But one circuit was functioning when the four staff started their work and none of the engineers was present at the spot," one source said.

"The accident occurred due to sheer negligence. We found that the sub-station was not fully shut down which is a must to carry such work and ensure safety of the persons concerned," he alleged.

PDB chief engineer Liakat Hossain Baro Bhuiyan, however, refuted the charges of negligence and said that it was merely an accident.

"All concerned engineers were there to supervise the work," he told this correspondent over phone on Saturday.

He said a five-member inquiry committee is investigating the matter and the actual reasons will be known shortly.

The four injured persons were first admitted to the Holy Crescent Hospital in Chittagong and then sent to Dhaka on the same night as per advise of a medical board. Two PDB doctors and few others accompanied them to the capital.

The four are undergoing treatment at the City Clinic at Panthapath in Dhaka.

When contacted over cell phone, Dr Shoyeb Ahmed from Dhaka said, "Of the four, the conditions of Monaf, Wahab and Idris are critical while Wajiullah seems out of danger. Monaf has burn injury on almost the whole of his body."