Five burnt in Demra restaurant fire

Five people have suffered burn injuries in a fire from gas leakage at a Chinese restaurant in Dhaka’s Demra area. The incident took place around 7:30am Wednesday. The injured are restaurant staff members Faruqe Hossain, 42, Chan Miah, 35, Harun Miah, 50, Billal Hossain, 50 and Felani, alias Picchi, 18. “They were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) burn unit in the morning,” DMCH police outpost SI Bachchu Miah told the Dhaka Tribune. Quoting restaurant authorities, the police official added the fire broke out when the restaurant staff tried to turn on the stove to prepare food for customers.” “Two of them – Faruqe and Chan Miah – have suffered 57% to 66% burns and are in critical condition; another was burnt up to 10%,” said DMCH Burn Unit’s Resident Surgeon Partha Shankar Pal. Two other staff members were released after being given first aid, the doctor said. The injured Billal said: “A fire broke out from a gas leakage in the restaurant on Tuesday night. The authorities immediately changed the gas cylinder, but maybe they missed checking the leakage spot.” “On information, two fire fighting units reached the spot, but the blaze had been doused before they arrived,” said the fire service’s control room duty officer. Jatrabari police station OC Anisur Rahman told Dhaka Tribune: “We suspect that the gas leaked throughout the night, leading to the fire breakout.”