Tuhin, Maruf, Rubel and Hazrat are still suffering from severe wounds inflicted during the deadly fire at Chittagong's Sitakunda five months ago. Although they survived the deadly blaze at the BM Container Depot on June 4, survival came at a cost to their limbs and eyesight.
Six of the survivors shared their experiences at a function organized by BRAC at the BRAC Limb and Brace Centre (BLBC) office in Mohammadpur on Thursday. Earlier in the day, prosthetic limbs were given to nine victims of the fire to give them a chance at a normal life.
Hazrat Ali, a security official at the depot, lost a hand as well as his eyesight when there was an explosion during the fire. He now does not know what awaits him in the near future and how he will make ends meet.
Monir Hossain, the reporting supervisor of the depot, said: “I was on duty from eight o'clock that night. When I heard that there was smoke coming out of a container, I went to investigate it at around 9pm.”
“I was about 5-7 minutes away from the depot when I heard a sudden and loud noise. When I tried to run, I saw that I had no legs,” he added.
Monir said the BM Depot authorities had asked him to join the depot once more, and he was trying to recover quickly so he could return to work.
Abdus Samad, security in charge of BM Depot, lost his foot in the fire.
He said: “We sometimes saw smoke at the depot, and thought it was innocuous as in other times. When we saw that the smoke was still increasing around 8:30pm, we called the fire services.
“I was standing around 200 metres away from the site as I knew there were chemicals, but I still was not saved. My life was saved with treatment, but I lost my leg. I will have to carry this wound for the rest of my life,” he added.
Depot truck driver Maruf, who lost his hand in the fire, said: "When I tried to put out the fire of a brother in the fire service, I saw that I had no hand. I thought there was no hope of survival even if I returned alive.”
Earlier in the morning, prosthetic limbs and pressure garments were provided to nine people who were seriously injured and lost limbs in the Sitakunda fire.
Asif Saleh, executive director of Brac, Dr Samanta Lal Sen, national coordinator of the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, and Morseda Chowdhury, director of the HNPP of BRAC, were present on the occasion.
The survivors who received assistance are Khaledur Rahman, Tuhin Hossain, Abdus Samad, Maruf Hossain, Monir Hossain, Nurul Akter, Robin Mia, Ridoy Hossain and Hazrat Ali. The prosthetics were given free of cost.
Dr Samanta Lal Sen said: “ With these prosthetic limbs and pressure garments, it will be possible to walk pain-free like normal people. We give our heartfelt thanks to BRAC for standing by the Sitakunda fire survivors.”
Addressing the fire survivors who received the assistance, BRAC executive director Asif Saleh said: “It's not just our responsibility, it's your right. We want you to be known as people who are able to overcome all obstacles and move forward. BRAC will always be by your side.”
He said he expected the government to undertake more public-private partnership initiatives with Brac in future to provide quality prosthetics, pressure garments and physiotherapy services to a far wider range of patients.
Brac director Morseda Chowdhury said: “We hope that this assistance will help the survivors of Sitakunda fire to become self-reliant once again.”
Last December, BRAC jointly with Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery established a limb and brace centre at the latter's premises. It provides quality prosthetics related services to severely injured fire survivors.
Over 450 people were injured in the Sitakunda blast. Among them, 23 seriously injured patients were admitted to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. Nine of these patients who needed prosthetic limbs and pressure garments were identified through rigorous scanning.
The Brac Limb and Brace Centre (BLBC), operating since 2000, provides user-friendly quality prosthetics, orthotic and physiotherapy services to amputees and people with disabilities. To date, over 43,000 patients have received these services from BLBC.