20230704 10 policemen among 14 injured in second explosion on oil tanker after deadly blast
Bangladesh Jul 04 2023 “Shipboard”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured more than 10
10 policemen among 14 injured in second explosion on oil tanker after deadly blast
Updated: 2023-07-04
At least 14 people, including 10 police officers, have been injured in a second explosion on the deadly blast-hit oil tanker Shagor Nandini-2 that has triggered a fire during the unloading of cargo as part of efforts to contain a spill on the Sugondha river in Jhalakathi.
Flames engulfed the shattered vessel at Rajapur village after a loud bang on Monday evening when workers were siphoning the cargo to Shagor Nandini-4, another tanker owned by the same company, witnesses said.
Four firefighting teams were working to douse the flames that were still burning at night.
Local journalists at the scene said they had seen three people being rushed to hospital with burn injuries after the latest blast.
Eleven of the injured were taken to Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital and three to Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital, said HM Zahirul Islam, civil surgeon of Jhalakathi District.
Ronu Sarker, a sub-inspector at the Barishal hospital, said two of the injured brought to the facility were police officers and the other was an employee of the vessel’s owner.
They are constables Md Shawkat Jamil and ‘Dwip’, and company employee Md Sharif Ahmed, 35.
Citing doctors, Ronu said 5-10 percent of the victims’ bodies were burnt.
Mohammad Kayum, the cook of Shagor Nandini-2 who was injured in the first explosion, said excessive heat from non-stop use of a pump to siphon the oil might have caused the second blast.
According to Jhalakathi police, the district administration, and the cook rescued from the disaster, nine crew members were aboard Shagor Nandini-2 when the first of the latest blasts occurred on Saturday.
Five of them were hospitalised while four bodies were found in the debris on Sunday and Monday before the end of the rescue operation.
Another ship and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority’s rescue vessel Nirbhik were spotted near Shagor Nandini-2 during the second blast, some of the panicked villagers said.
Shagor Nandini-2 brought 900,000 litres of fuel oil for the Padma Oil Company Limited depot in the area.
Padma Oil Company officials say that 400,000 litres of oil have been recovered from the vessel after the blast. The company has also formed a committee to investigate the incident.
The Shagor Nandini-2 tanker had suffered a hull breach six months ago, causing a massive oil spill in Bhola.
Another vessel from the same company, the Shagor Nandini-3, suffered an explosion on Nov 12, 2021 in a similar spot on the Sugondha River. Six people were killed in the disaster.
Web Source: BDNews24