A doctor, who suffered burn injuries at his home on Jul 22, has died in a Dhaka hospital.
Rajib Bhattachariya, 36, passed away at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on Tuesday morning, said Dr Partha Shankar Pal.
Rajib, a neurosurgeon of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, had suffered burns to 87 per cent of his body, said Pal, bdnews24.com reported.
The fire erupted when Rajib was pouring hand sanitiser from one bottle to another in their second-storey flat on a building near Eastern Plaza, said Kalabagan Police Station OC Paritosh Chandra Sen.
Some sanitiser spilt at that time and fire from mosquito coil or some other source sparked a flame, Paritosh said.
His wife Anushka Bhattacharya, 32, registrar of the ophthalmology department at Central Medical College in Shyamoli, was injured when she tried to rescue her husband.
They were subsequently admitted to a hospital with critical injuries.
Anushka had suffered burns to 20 per cent of her body and is still receiving treatment at the hospital, said Pal.
The couple’s five-year-old daughter has been staying with Rajib’s parents in Cumilla for several weeks apparently because Rajib and Anushka feared the girl would get infected from them amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Experts have reiterated fire risks of alcohol-based sanitiser since the outbreak started earlier this year.
The pandemic has prompted the people across the globe to resort to health rules, such as hand-washing and wearing masks, to avoid infection.
