A third person has died following a gas explosion at a residential building in Chattogram’s Halishahar area. The deceased, 40-year-old Samir Ahmed, succumbed to burn injuries at the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute in Dhaka around noon on Tuesday. According to the institute’s assistant professor Shawon Bin Rahman, Samir had suffered burns on 45 percent of his body and had been admitted the previous day. His death raised the toll from the incident to three.

Earlier, on Monday morning, 16-year-old Shawon, who was Samir’s nephew, died while undergoing treatment at the same institute. Shawon’s mother, Noor Jahan Akhter Rani, aged 40, had died earlier that day. The explosion occurred around 4:30 a.m. on Monday during sehri time at a third-floor flat of a six-story building named Halima Manzil in Halishahar’s H Block. Neighbors reported hearing a loud blast followed by a fire.

Nine members of the same family, including three children, were burned in the explosion. Six of them remain under treatment in Dhaka after being transferred from Chattogram Medical College Hospital.