An auto rickshaw driver lost his three-day battle for life at the burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Tuesday morning.
Mawlana Abdus Sattar, 65, received 64% burns when blockaders set fire to his vehicle on the first day of the opposition-sponsored 131-hour blockade.
“Sattar, a retired madrassa teacher of Barisal, died around 9.30am while undergoing treatment,” Partha Shankar Pal, residential surgeon of the burn unit of DMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Pickets set fire to his auto rickshaw in Badarpur area while he was going home to Patuakhali after attending a Mahfil (religious congregation) at Sharshina on Saturday night around 7.30pm.
Later, he was taken to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital but as his condition was deteriorating, on-duty doctors shifted him to DMCH at noon on Sunday.
Hailing from Doinokashi area of Patuakhali, he was the father of one son and four daughters. His son-in-law, Mawlana Habibur Rahman, took his body to his native village without any autopsy.
Mawlana Abdul Hakim, the only son of victim, said they would not file any case in connection with the incident as it would not bring their father back.
Meanwhile, as the condition of Ohidur Rahman Babu, a student of political science department, deteriorated he was put on life support at noon on Monday.
He was one of the passengers of the ill-fated bus that was set ablaze by blockaders last Thursday at Shahabagh; 28% of his respiratory system was damaged.
“He is so weak that he cannot open his eyes,” says Dr Amatun Noor, a doctor of the burn unit.
Visiting the hospital on Tuesday, this correspondent found Babu’s mother Saleha Khatun passing sleepless nights at ICU. Speechless and motionless, she just keeps looking at the face of her son.
Besides Babu, five others – Rahajul with 25% burns, Nurnabi with 35% burns, Jahangir with 15% burns, Abu Talha with 30% burns and Mahedi with 30% burns – are suffering at the ICU.
Samanta Lal Shen, coordinator of the burn unit, said around 40 patients are undergoing treatment at DMCH and a good number of them were getting better.
“Our special medical board doctors are looking after them and we hope they will recover.”