Compressor blast injures five in Rupganj

Five workers were injured, including four who suffered burns, when an air compressor exploded at a Sim Group factory in Rupganj, Narayanganj, on Monday night, police said.

AHM Salahuddin, Officer-in-Charge of Rupganj Police Station, told Daily Waadaa that the machine exploded in a third-floor garment warehouse, damaging nearby walls, seven pillars, the roof and surrounding machinery.

One worker suffered more serious burn injuries than the others, he said.

The incident occurred around 8pm, and the four burn patients were admitted to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka, reports UNB.

Dr Sultan Mahmud Sikder, resident surgeon at the institute’s emergency department, identified them as Naimul, 30, Ismail, 30, Kamrul, 55, and Tapan, 38.

Naimul suffered burns to 42 percent of his body and was in critical condition, the doctor said. Kamrul sustained 25 percent burns, Ismail 20 percent and Tapan 12 percent.

Naimul also suffered smoke inhalation injuries, while similar injuries were suspected in the other three, Sikder said. All four were receiving treatment.

The fifth worker was receiving treatment in a general ward for a head injury, Salahuddin said. He may have been struck by a pipe or another machine part displaced by the explosion, the OC added. His name was not immediately available.

Salahuddin said he saw no evidence of a spreading fire during his inspection following the explosion.

“I did not see a fire,” he told Waadaa.

Mohammad Sajib Hossain, a firefighter at the Kanchan-Nodi Fire Station in Rupganj, told Waadaa, “We found no fire when we arrived at 8:35pm yesterday.”

The cause of the explosion has yet to be established.