In just three days, a string of suspected gas leak fires across at least four districts, including Chattogram, has exposed the alarming vulnerability of urban households, leaving five members of a single family dead and 15 others injured.

A gas line explosion ripped through a flat on the third floor of a six-storey building at Halishahar in Chattogram early Monday, leaving nine of a family injured.

Five of them — Shawkat Hossain, 49; Ashura Akter Pakhi, 30; Nurjahan Akter; her son Shawon; and her brother-in-law Sumon   succumbed to their injuries till Wednesday afternoon.

4 of a family burned in Hazaribagh ‘gas leak’ fire

The other injured victims are undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic surgery in Dhaka.

On the same day, four members of a family including a woman and a child sustained burn injuries in a gas leak explosion at their rented house in the capital’s Hazaribagh area.

The victims — Sheikh Roman, 35; his wife Pinky Akter, 32; their three-year-old son Mayan; and Roman’s brother-in-law Apu, 23 — were living on the ground floor of a building in East Rayer Bazar.

They were rushed to the burn institute in the early hours.

In Cumilla’s Daudkandi, another family of four — Monowara, 60, Zill Haque, 37, Umme Humaira, 30, and two-year-old Hurram — suffered burns in a fire triggered by a suspected gas leak on Tuesday.

Three shops gutted in Kushtia fire

Hospital sources said they were admitted to the emergency department of the burn institute.

In Chandpur’s Kachua upazila, three members of a family — Khadiza, 30, Mahmudul, 35, and Sheuli Akter, 40 — were injured in an explosion reportedly caused by a leaking gas line at around 8:30am on Wednesday.

They, too, were later taken to Dhaka for treatment.

Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain and Disaster Management and Relief Minister Asadul Habib Dulu visited the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute on Tuesday morning to see victims of Chattogram and Cumilla fire incidents.

The Health Minister told reporters that the best possible treatment would be provided to all injured patients.

Disaster Management and Relief Minister Asadul Habib Dulu said Industries, Health, and Disaster Management ministries will work together to bring expired gas cylinders under proper regulation.

The ministers will hold a joint meeting soon to decide on measures to reduce such accidents, he said.

Two separate probe bodies have been formed over the blast incident at Halishahar in Chattogram city that left five people dead.

Mohammad Jashim Uddin, deputy-director of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defense, said a five-member committee has been formed to look into the explosion.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within next week.

Meanwhile, Kabir Uddin Ahmed, General Manager of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) formed a three-member committee to probe the blast.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within three working days.