5 hurt in gas cylinder blast

10 May 2010, 18:00 PM

Our Correspondent, N'ganj

Five persons including an expatriate and his son were injured yesterday afternoon when a gas cylinder of a microbus exploded at Kanchpur Nayapara in Sonargaon upazila. Of the injured, three were identified as Alam Miah, Bangladeshi expatriate in Oman, his son Mehedi Hasan and friend Saiful Islam. They were admitted to Sonargaon Upazila Health Complex and clinics in the area. A one-hour long traffic jam was created stretching for about 12 kilometre from Signboard area in Siddhirganj to Darikandi area in Sonargaon upazila following the blast. Later, traffic movement resumed when highway police rushed to the spot, extinguished the fire and removed the vehicle. Alam with Mehedi and Saiful took a microbus at Shahjalal International Airport to go to their village home. Alam, of Dulalpur village in Comilla, returned to the country yesterday. The microbus stopped on the way at a CNG station at Kanchpur for gas filling. Then as the microbus reached Nayapara, the gas cylinder exploded, and the vehicle caught fire. Five persons included Alam, Mehedi, Saiful and the microbus driver. The fire also burnt currency worth Tk 5 lakh which Alam brought from abroad. Local people rescued the injured and took them to different hospitals.