41 die in launch fire: Health Secretary

A total of 41 people have died in a massive fire that broke out in the engine room of MV Avijan-10 launch in the middle of Sugandha River, Lokman Hossen Miah, Senior Secretary of the Health Ministry said today.  

“81 people were admitted to the different hospitals and out of them 46 are receiving treatments. Apart from, 16 people were discharged from the hospitals,” the top government official said.   

He said this after visiting the fire victims at Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute (SHNIBPS) at 12:15pm on Saturday.

He also said 21 of the injured people were sent to Dhaka and admitted to the SHNIBPS. 4 of them were discharged from there and 15 people are currently taking treatments. Besides, two were taken to the ICU, one was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and another died.

“32 are undergoing treatments in Barishal. A seven-member medical team were sent there and we are monitoring this,” he added. 

The massive fire broke out at the launch around 3am on Friday. Being informed, members of the coast guards and fire service from Bairshal, Pirojpur, Barguna and Jhalakathi started the rescue operation. 

In that time Kamal Hossen Bhuiyan, Deputy Director of Barishal Fire Service, said 30 dead bodies were recovered from the launch. Later, Jhalakathi’s Additional Superintendent of Police Prashanta Kumar De, confirmed that 39 bodies were recovered.

On Friday noon, a child named Marjia Akter died while undergoing treatment at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital.

Later, a man named Habib Khan died at the SHNIBPS, raising the death toll from the launch fire to 41.