Nasima Begum, mother of yet another arson victim, could not believe that her son could die an unnatural death, as God could not be so cruel to her.
“I do not believe that something bad can happen to my son; the Almighty cannot be so cruel and at least he cannot do anything like that to him; my son is everything to me,he has maintained the family for the last 10 years after his father left.”
This is how Nasima Begum, mother of another arson attack victim, Hassan, muttered those words to the Dhaka Tribune over her mobile phone as if she was uttering a prayer.
Nasima knew nothing about the death of her son in an arson attack while this correspondent talked to her on Thursday evening. Asked about their last talk, Nasima said her son called on the cell phone saying he would come home after the blockade ended yesterday evening.
Hassan, the only beloved son of the poor woman, died while undergoing treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), after he received 90% burn injury as blockaders set his bus to fire.
He was fast asleep inside the bus in the capital’s Sayedabad area yesterday.
Victim Mohammad Hassan, 16, a helper of Israt Paribahan of Dhaka-Chittagong route, succumbed to his injuries at 7:00pm, Partha Shankar Pal, residential surgeon of DMCH burn unit said.
He died within nine hours of his admission as the fire damaged his respiratory system completely, he added.
Coming from Maizdi of Noakhali he was the son of Nizamuddin. His father left the family when Hassan’s younger sister was six-month old. His mother Nasima Begum with his seven-year-old sister Nasrin lived in Jolapara area of Chittagong.
Nasima works in a garment factory in the district.
Mohammad Raju, a nephew, who resides in Gazipur, said three months ago Hassan took the job as helper. His family solely depends on his income. Now with his death Hassan’s mother and sister have lost their last resort.
Hassan is paid Tk200 daily. Last night we gave him Tk200 and told him to keep an eye on the bus but we never thought something like that might happen, says owner of the bus Salauddin Ahmed.
Abdul Manan, the driver of the bus company and also an eyewitness to the incident, said several buses were parked in the area. He was just gossiping with some other drivers next to the ill-fated bus.
“Suddenly around 8.30am we heard sounds of three petrol bombs that were thrown into the bus through its front windshield. The bust caught fire in no time and the smoke engulfed the entire area.”
People spontaneously tried to tame the flame but by the time it became mountainous one. A fire fighting unit came to the spot after half an hour and doused the flame around 9:15am, says Manan.
“Afterwards, we entered into the bus and found Hassan lying on the floor of the bus with all his body roasted.”
Hassan went to sleep around 3.00am on Thursday as he was fearing an arson attack and that is why he slept at the back of the bus. When the fire broke out he tried to come out but the smoke from the fire chocked him, he said quoting Hassan.
Six other patients are also suffering at the ICU of the DMCH.
Their condition was stated to be critical. They are named as Jahangir Hossain Mridha, suffering from 10% respiratory burn injury, Abdul Aziz suffering from 35% burn, Rahajul suffering from 30% burn, Abu Talha suffering from 28% burn, Nurnabi, suffering from 35% burn and Mehedi Hassan suffering from 64% burn.
Dr Partha Shankar Pal of the unit says that special medical board is giving extra attention to the patients and the hospital is doing its best to heal them.