Desk Report : Nineteen people were injured yesterday in an ammonia gas explosion from a cylinder left in the open beside a busy street in the capital's Chankharpool.

People in the neighbourhoods also suffered from breathing difficulties as the gas spread around the area and seeped into homes. 

Kazi Gas Company, a retailer that supply ammonia, left three cylinders of compressed ammonia gas on the footpath in the scorching heat causing one to explode around midday, fire service officials said.

The metal cylinder weighing 70 kilograms blew up in the sky and crashed down onto a nearby shop, leaving its roof and shutters crumpled.

It contained 50 kilograms of gas, staff of the store supplying gas said.

The explosion prompted people around to run in all directions to escape harm from the gas while some splashed water on their burning eyes and gulped water from a communal tap to get relief from the burning sensation in their throats.

At least six people who sustained severe inhalation injuries received treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Azizul Haque, an employee of a transport service counter next to the chemical store, got full exposure to the blast, resulting in the burning of his skin on the back.

The fire service arrived at the spot 20 minutes later but by that time, the major damage was done by the gas that takes no time to spread.

A cylinder full of ammonia gas left in the sun in front of Kazi Gas Co, at Chankharpool in the capital blew off its cylinder head and the gushing gas sent it up in the air before it came crashing down on Azizul Haque's shop, leaving him with severe chemical burns yesterday. Photo: Star

A cylinder full of ammonia gas left in the sun in front of Kazi Gas Co, at Chankharpool in the capital blew off its cylinder head and the gushing gas sent it up in the air before it came crashing down on Azizul Haque's shop, leaving him with severe chemical burns yesterday. Photo: Star

However, the impact could have been worse, local people said, as the ammonia-filled cylinders were usually stored in a place right above which had been an electric transformer.  The transformer was removed two days ago.

�Compressed gas should never be kept near heat or in sunlight, since the gas expands and can make the cylinder explode,� said Masudur Rahman Akand, deputy assistant director of the fire service and civil defence.

�I was pulling my rickshaw and had passengers when the incident took place,� said Ripon, a rickshaw-puller.

�Suddenly I could not breathe any more. I felt like something was constricting my throat, and I fell off my rickshaw,� he added.

Parul Begum was cooking inside her house made of corrugated tin when suddenly a noxious gas filled up her tiny home. �I could not breathe and I do not know what happened next,� said the 40-year-old housewife.

Kazi chemical store was loaded up to the ceiling with barrels of liquid ammonia.

Contacted, the store owner, Kazi Lear Hossain, told The Daily Star that the cylinders had been kept there in the morning because those were scheduled to be supplied yesterday.

When asked why those were left in the open, he said, �I told my staff not to keep those under the sun but they don't listen to me.�

The store supply ammonia to cold storages and paint factories, local people.

The proprietor of the chemical shop was not present on the spot when police went there, said the officer-in-charge of Chawkbazaar Police Station, Azizul Haque. �We have sealed off the shop.�

On April 10, a combustion of gas spewing from an open 200-litre paint thinner barrel killed five people and injured six others.

At least 123 people were killed in 2010 in a chemical inferno at Nimtoli in Old Dhaka, triggering a public outcry and demand for relocation of the chemical warehouses and stores from the area. the daily star

Local Time : 0307 Hours, 25 April 2024