Two women sustained burn injuries as unidentified assailants hurled petrol bombs on a moving CNG-run auto-rickshaw in the Aturar Depot area under Bayezid Bostami Police Station in Chattogram city early Sunday.
The victims are Laila Begum, 50, and Jharna Begum, 30, both residents of Raujan Municipality in Chattogram.
Of them, Laila suffered burns in 90 per cent of her body. She was initially admitted to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Chittagong Medical College聽 Hospital but was later sent to Dhaka for advanced treatment, according to officials at the CMCH police outpost.
They said that Jharna received minor burn injuries in one of her hands and was released from CMCH after giving primary treatment.
Sub-inspector Nure Alam Ashek of the outpost said that the two victims were brought to the hospital鈥檚 burn unit at about 5:00am, about half an hour after the incident.
Quoting those who brought the victims to the hospital, Nure Alam said that the women had been traveling in a CNG auto-rickshaw when it came under attack.
The auto-rickshaw driver, Mohammad Jami, told reporters that the passengers were coming from Raujan upazilla to the shrine of Malek Shah Hujur in Kutubdia.
The vehicle had been carrying three women, two men, and a minor child, he said.
He said that three masked people on a motorcycle hurled two petrol bombs targeting the auto-rickshaw when it reached in front of the Aturar Depot petrol pump at about 4:30am.
One of the bombs hit the rear of the vehicle and the two female passengers caught fire sparked by the petrol bomb, he said.
The driver said that he managed to put off the fire using water preserved in bottles in his auto-rickshaw, he said.
Bayezid Bostami Police Station officer-in-charge Arifur Rahman said that no case was lodged and none was arrested in this connection until 9:00pm on Sunday.