‘We lost father within 33 days of losing sister’

Abdul Mannan was working as an office assistant at a company named "New Generation Company" at a building in the Science Laboratory area this morning. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the building partially collapsed.

Mannan, hailing from Gazipur, was one of three people who died in the explosion.

"We lost our only sister 33 days ago due to her health complications, now my father is gone too. How are we going to console our mother?" asked Ashik, after losing his father in the explosion.

He said his father worker at the company for over four decades.

"My father left our rented home in Old Dhaka early in the morning... We were all sleeping then. We could not even say goodbye to him. Now, we will never see him again," said Shakil as tears roll down his cheeks.

Shakil along with his younger brother Ashik was seen trying to console their mother but in vain.

Three persons died and at least 40 were injured in the blast, caused by accumulated gas.

Some part of the building collapsed due to the explosion, fire and police officials said.

"Four units of firefighters rushed there on information around 10:50am," said Khaleda Yeasmin, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence control room.

She said the fire was brought under control around 11:15am.