Mojahidul Islam Jobair has been working at Khana's restaurant on the fourth floor of Green Cozy Cottage on Bailey Road for the last five months. On Thursday night, after a fire broke out at the building, Jobair went to the rooftop and jumped off, assuming that it would save his life.
Although he has survived, he is currently undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for injuries. Doctors say he needs surgery on his spine and legs.
Hailing from Faridpur, the young man described the horrific events of that night to this correspondent. He said: "When the fire broke out that day, I was making coffee. Our cashier was on break at the time. All our staff members are given a 20-minute break in the evening. Everyone went to the break one by one. Our cashier too went on his break. Suddenly, he called me on my cell phone from below and said there was a fire. He also instructed all of us to go upstairs. We all rushed upstairs. First, we tried to go downstairs. But there was so much smoke that it was impossible to go down. After failing to go downstairs, I moved upward. Many others went with us. People were jumping off the roof in panic. They were screaming, and there was a lot of panic in their eyes and faces. Everyone was trying to survive. I was one of them.”
He added that the fire and smoke were growing fast at one point.
“I then tried to climb down the roof. I thought I could go down this way, but then my hands slipped and I fell. There was an air conditioner in the corner of the roof, and I wanted to use it while escaping the fire. But I fell after I had just held it. Then I was rescued and brought to the hospital.”
Iqbal Hossain, an employee of Kachhi Bhai restaurant—situated on the first floor of the same building—jumped off the building from the fifth floor and injured his waist and leg in the process.
Iqbal said he went up the stairs from where he was and waited there for a while. By that time, people were coming out of the restaurants on the ground and the first floor and were gathering on the stairs. Within moments, there were more people on the stairs, which were full of smoke. It was difficult to breathe.
“I then went to a restaurant on the fifth floor and tried to get out through the grill. I saw many people making the same effort. But he could not, because the gap was narrow. I jumped off from there and fell on the street.”
The fire broke out on the ground floor of the building around 10pm. Soon, the fire spread to the entire building, and many people were trapped on the upper floors of the building. A number of them tried to jump off to save their lives. Many were afraid even to try to go downstairs.
According to the Fire Service, the entire staircase became like a fire furnace due to the presence of gas cylinders there.
The majority of those who died did not suffer burns but rather died from smoke inhalation. Before that, they were unconscious. The fire service also said that there was no mechanism to extinguish the fire in the building.
After the incident, 14 people were taken to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. Of them, 11 were admitted to the facility, while eight were discharged after treatment. Three people are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. Doctors said that all the injured had respiratory damage.
On the other hand, two people injured in the fire incident are currently undergoing treatment at DMCH. The rest were released. Doctors said that both of them would need surgery.
The fire incident took the lives of 46 people, including women and eight children. The bodies of 44 of them have been handed over to the family members so far. The remaining two bodies have been kept at the DMCH morgue.