"The little boy has gone completely silent. He doesn't speak to anyone unless absolutely necessary. I saw him lying in bed, looking through photos of him and his mother on his mobile phone, one after another. Then he put the phone away. I honestly don't know what to say to comfort him."
Munaf Mujib Chowdhury, the younger brother of teacher Mehreen Chowdhury—who died after being severely burned in the plane crash at Milestone School and College—was speaking to the Dhaka Tribune over the phone on Wednesday afternoon about Mehreen’s younger son.
Mehreen Chowdhury was the eldest daughter of the late President Ziaur Rahman's cousin, Mohitur Rahman Chowdhury, and Chhabera Chowdhury. She completed her SSC from Shaheen School and College in Dhaka in 1995 and her HSC from the same institution in 1997. She later earned her Honours and Master’s degrees from Titumir College.
Mehreen had been teaching at Milestone School and College for nearly 19 years. She served as the coordinator for classes 3 to 5 of the Bengali medium branch. She lived in Uttara with her husband, Mansur Helal, and their two sons. The elder son, Ayan Rashid Miaaz, is 16, while the younger, Adil Rashid Mahid, is 6.
Munaf Mujib Chowdhury said: "What happened—how do I even begin to comfort her two sons? Yesterday, the elder one told me, 'If my mother had just lost her hand, I would have been devastated. But she was so badly burned, so hurt—and I couldn't do anything. I didn’t know what to say to her at that moment.'”
He continued: “Apu was 100% burned. There was no part of her body left untouched—not even her lungs or trachea. The students who were hospitalized kept saying that Mehreen Miss saved them. I learned from them that she had helped the students get out first and only then tried to escape herself. But as the other students screamed and fled, she was unable to get out.”
Describing Mehreen's final moments, Munaf said: “Apu was talking a lot before she passed. She spoke about the boys' education, where they should go, what they should do—many things. When Dulaibhai asked her, ‘Didn’t you think about our two sons?’ she replied, ‘They are my children too. How could I leave them behind?’”
He became emotional while recounting her last words.
Mehreen's father, Mohitur Rahman Chowdhury, passed away on December 28, 2014, and her mother, Chhabera Chowdhury, died on June 30, 2020.
Munaf added: “Apu was the eldest of our four siblings. I’m the youngest. So our relationship was more like that of a mother and son than sister and brother. After our parents died, she became our guardian. I don’t know what to do now. Everything has changed so suddenly that I’m left speechless.”
At the end of the conversation, he asked the nation to pray for his sister.
Mehreen died from 100% burns sustained in the July 21 plane crash at Milestone School and College. She succumbed to her injuries while receiving treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery around 9pm on Monday.
Her burial took place beside her parents' graves after Zuhr prayers on Tuesday, at 2:30pm.