High Court seeks probe report on United Hospital fire

The High Court has asked Dhaka-based United Hospital to submit a probe report on the deaths of five patients at the facility's Covid-19 isolation unit during a fire almost a week ago.

The court has also sought the report in writing from the hospital authorities by June 14.

At the same time, the inspector general of police, the fire brigade authorities and the Rajdhani Unyan Katripakkha have also been asked to submit separate reports on the incident to the court.

A virtual High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim issued the order on Tuesday.

Barrister Muntasir Uddin Ahmed and Advocate Niaz Mahmud argued for the writ in the court while Additional Attorney General Murad Reza stood for the state.

Earlier, two Supreme Court lawyers, Niaz Mahmud and Saheeda Parveen Sheela filed a writ petition with the High Court on June 1, seeking an order for the investigation into the fire incident and compensation for the victims.

On May 27, a blast of an air conditioner at the Covid-19 unit of the hospital at Gulshan caused a massive fire that killed five patients in the unit.

Three fire service units doused the fire and recovered five bodies. Among the dead, four were male and one was female.