Sumaiya Akther, injured in last week’s gas explosion, is fighting for her life at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). She rarely gains consciousness and whenever she does, she enquires after her husband and sons, unaware that three of them have already succumbed to their injuries sustained in the fire at Uttara.
“Whenever she gains consciousness, she writhes in pain and asks how her husband and sons are doing,” her brother-in-law Riaz Mollah said. He said the family had not broken the news to Sumaiya, who suffered 95% burns, fearing that doing so could further deteriorate her already critical condition.
“We are trying to give her false hope that her husband and children are okay. When she wants to speak with them, we call her second son Zarif over phone,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Zarif, 9, received 6% burns in Friday’s explosion caused by a gas leak in the kitchen. The fire broke out when Sumaiya tried to lit a gas oven. All five members of the family were injured. The couple’s 14-month-old son Zayan, and Sharleen, 15, died within 12 hours of the incident while their father Shahnewaz succumbed to his injuries a day later.
Riaz said Sumaiya would try to offer prayers through gestures if she heard Azan when she gained consciousness and prayed for her family’s recovery.
Zayan and Sharleen have been buried in Barisal while Shahnewaz’s body has been kept at the Birdem morgue. Shahnewaz’s nephew Nazmus Sakib said they would take the body to their village home. “We are preparing for the worst,” he added, hinting at Sumaiya’s deteriorating condition.
Partha Shankar Pal, residential surgeon of DMCH burn institute, said they were trying their best to save the 38-year-old mother. Zarif is recovering but he is mentally scarred, relatives say. “He is out of danger. Every time he speaks, he says he wants to see his parents,” his cousin Nishat, who is looking after him at the hospital, said.
Ali Hossain, officer-in-charge of Uttara west police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had issued letters to Titas and DESCO to learn whether the gas and electricity connections to the house, where the accident took place, were legal. “We are yet to get a reply from them,” he said, adding that they would take actions after receiving replies from the suppliers.
