At least 36 people, including women and children, suffered severe burns in a gas cylinder fire in Gazipur's Kaliakoir area last evening.

The victims were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in the capital.

At least 15 of them are in critical conditions with 50 to 100 percent burns, Professor Pradip Chandra Das, associate professor at the burn institute, told reporters around 10:15pm.

Another six suffered 30-50 percent burns in their breathing tracts, and are not out of danger, he added.

The victims include seven children. Two of them are being treated in Intensive Care Unit with serious burns, the physician said.

Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen visited the burn institute after the incident.

The fire broke out in a densely-populated colony in Telirchala Mouchak area of Kaliakoir around 5:45pm following a leak in a cooking gas cylinder, said Md Ashrafuzzaman, in-charge of Konabari Fire Station.

Workers of a nearby garment factory as well as low-income people live in tin-shed houses in the colony, locals said.

Witnesses said, one house owner named Shafiqul Islam was trying to install a gas cylinder in the afternoon, when the cylinder caught fire from the stove next to it. Shafiqul then threw the cylinder outside the house, with many people standing nearby.

As more onlookers came closer, some of them suffered burns from the blazing cylinder, they added. 

"I was cooking before Iftar. Suddenly, I saw a fire in a cylinder. I rushed to extinguish the fire. I tried to remove the gas but after a while, the fire engulfed it. My children were burnt just as they went to see that fire," said Shah Alam, whose two children suffered critical burns.