Balloon seller admits to refueling cylinder with more gas than allowed capacity 

A balloon seller named Abu Saeed, 30, started his business only 12 days before his gas cylinder exploded in the Rupnagar area of Mirpur claiming seven innocent lives. 

Saeed admitted that the explosion happened while he was trying to fill more gas into the cylinder than its capacity allowed. 

This correspondent talked to Saeed in the general ward of Dhaka Medical College Hospital while he was being prepared for a critical operation. 

"The cylinder was almost empty and all the balloons were sold out. A few children were also waiting for balloons. I just tried to refuel the cylinder with white chemical, ashes and water. But the explosion occurred within a few seconds," Saeed told this correspondent. 

"I was trying to put extra gas in the cylinder. When I was about to finish the process, the cylinder exploded and I became senseless. Then I found myself on a bed at Dhaka Medical College Hospital," he added.

Abu Saeed also said he did know that a cylinder could explode because he started the business on October 19. 

"I bought the cylinder for only Tk4,000 and white chemical powder for Tk80. I cannot remember its name, but it was white in color," he further said. 

Abu Saeed also said he was living at a mess in Mirpur's Duwaripara area. Earlier, he worked in a tailoring shop.

He said another balloon businessman encouraged him to go for the balloon business. 

"I wanted to make quick money without assessing the risk," he said.

Abu Saeed's brother Jahid Hossain said his family was also unaware of Saeed's new business. 

"My brother was severely injured, but was accused in a case over the explosion. Now only Allah knows what will happen to him," he said, and broke into tears.  

Abul Kalam Azad, officer-in-charge of Rupnagar police station, said a case has been filed against the balloon seller over with the gas cylinder blast in Mirpur that killed seven children and injured 15 others.

Dr Md Alauddin, the resident surgeon at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said Abu Saeed's intestines were blown out of his body, so he had to have surgery. 

We want justice not compensation: Deceased's families 

Nupur Akter's mother Surma Begum told The Business Standard that she didn't want to accept the compensation money given by the Dhaka district administration. 

The district administration gave each of the fatality victim's families Tk20,000 in compensation.

The families got the money when the dead bodies were handed over to them on Thursday afternoon, said Md Mazharul Islam, executive magistrate of the Dhaka district administration.

"We will also provide the injured with Tk5,000 to Tk15,000 for treatment, depending on their physical condition," Mazharul Islam added. 

"Is the cost of my 11-year-old child only Tk11,000? I refused to take the compensation money but they forced me to accept it. I want justice not money," she said with agony. 

Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital handed over the dead bodies of six children who were killed in a cylinder explosion at Rupnagar area in the capital, to their families after autopsy. 

The deceased were Riya Moni, 8, Nupur, 11, Farzana, 7, Rifat, 8, Ramjan, 11, and Rubel, 11.

Dr KM Mainuddin, a lecturer of forensic medicine at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, said the limbs of some of the children had been severed from their bodies.

Some others died because their intestines had been blown out in the explosion, he added.

He also said it was pathetic to do autopsies on such innocent children. 

"I never got emotional while doing any autopsy before, but I couldn't control my tears this time," the doctor further said. 

The six children were killed on the spot and 15 others injured in a balloon gas cylinder blast at Mirpur's Rupnagar area on Wednesday. 

The injured were taken to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital after the accident. 

Among them, one child named Nihad, 8, succumbed to injuries at the intensive care unit early on Thursday. 

With Nihad, the death toll in the blast has reached seven.