Two siblings have died allegedly from pesticide poisoning after a cleaning service provider used pest control in their house in Bashundhara Residential area in the capital.
The deceased were identified as Shayan Mobarrat Zahin, 14, a student of Class Eight; and Shahir Mobarrat Zayan, 9, a student of Class Three of an English medium school in Dhaka. They are siblings.
Asaduzzaman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bhatara Police Station; confirmed the matter.
He told media that they suspect that the two boys might have died due to pesticide poisoning.
Quoting the family members, Inspector (Investigation) Shariful Islam said Mobarak Hossain, the father of the two children, hired DCS Organisation Ltd for pest control of the house at Block-I. The employees of the company applied pesticides there on Saturday and asked them to enter the house after two to three hours. The family members, however, took extra precautions and returned to the house after about 10 hours.
The inspector said that all the family members fell sick, but the children had to be rushed to a nearby private hospitalin Dhka. Zayan died there last morning and Zahin last night, the inspector added.
The reason for their deaths is believed to be poisoning from the pesticides, he said.
Their sister is still undergoing treatment at the hospital, police said.
The family members and relatives alleged that the incident happened because of the "incompetent" staff of the pest control service.
It was known that a technical team of the organisation who worked at the house was at Bhatara Police Station after the incident.