The death toll from an explosion and fire in a six-story residential building in Chattogram, Bangladesh, rose to three after two patients died at a specialist hospital in Dhaka. Six other people remained critically injured while authorities investigated what caused the blast.
The explosion occurred on Monday morning inside a third-floor flat in the southeastern port city, about 242 kilometers from the Bangladeshi capital. A large fire broke out immediately afterward. Residents came out of the building individually with severe burns, indicating that the effects reached people beyond the point where the blast began.
The first reported death was a 40-year-old woman. She died on Monday while being transported to Dhaka with eight other burn patients for specialized treatment. The transfer reflected the severity of the injuries and the need for care at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
Two more deaths followed on Tuesday. A 16-year-old boy died while undergoing treatment at the Dhaka facility. Later that day, at around noon local time, a 40-year-old man also succumbed to his injuries. Resident surgeon Shawon Bin Rahman confirmed the hospital deaths to journalists and provided the sequence in which the fatalities were recorded.
The six surviving patients described in the report were still hospitalized in critical condition. Their condition meant the human toll could not be treated as settled on the event date. The supplied evidence did not give their names, ages or individual medical circumstances, and it did not provide an update on residents who may have escaped without critical injuries.
Officials were continuing to investigate the source of the explosion. Although the source report characterized the event as a gas blast, the evidence did not identify a confirmed ignition point, a mechanical failure or any official finding of responsibility. No conclusion about negligence or the condition of the building had been announced in the supplied material.
The known timeline is therefore limited but clear. The blast began in a flat on the building's third floor on Monday morning and was followed by a major fire. Nine seriously burned people were moved toward or treated in Dhaka. One woman died during the transfer on Monday, then a boy and a man died in hospital on Tuesday. Six critically injured survivors remained under care.
For families and investigators, the immediate priorities were different but connected: treating those still alive and establishing how an explosion inside an occupied residential building became a fatal fire. Until authorities complete that work, the verified account supports a toll of three dead and six people in critical condition, not a final explanation for the disaster. Any determination about the precise cause must await the findings of the investigation rather than inference from the location of the blast.
The deaths were recorded across two days and at different points in the medical response, which explains why the toll rose after the initial fire. One victim did not survive the journey to specialist care, while two others died after reaching the national burn institute. The remaining patients' critical status kept attention on the hospital as well as the damaged building, even as investigators began examining the origin of the explosion.
