A father died and four members of his family are fighting for their lives after smoking materials ignited a devastating fire at their apartment in the Shafipur area of Gazipur.
Shuvash Saha, 50, suffered 70% burns all over his body and lost his struggle for life at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) at 7pm on Tuesday.
The other victims, excluding one, suffered severe burns and have not yet moved out of danger at the burn and plastic surgery unit - three days after the incident.
The deceased’s wife Rina Rani Saha, 35, suffered 80% burns, while their sons Rentu Saha, 22, and Sumon Saha, 16, suffered 50% and 25% burns respectively. DMCH doctors said the couple’s only daughter Rumki Saha, 18, was worst affected, suffering 90% burns to her body.
During a recent visit to the burns unit, this correspondent found the patients lying motionless on their beds, with no relatives around and only one attendant, a female nurse, present on the ward.
Occasionally, doctors visited them as well as others admitted with minor to major burn injuries.
Sumon Saha, who was in a relatively better condition compared to the rest, described in a weak voice how the incident occurred around 3am on Tuesday, when his father (Shuvash) got up to smoke.
“He was trying to light a cigarette with his matches. There was a gas oven in the kitchen which caught fire as he failed to control his move. Soon the fire spread to other rooms and the whole house was burning,” Sumon said.
He said the gas pipeline of their house had been under repairs for the two days preceding the accident. Sumon suspected it had not been properly shut off by the repair workers - causing the fire to spread further.
Local people rescued the severally burnt Saha family and took them to hospital.
Dr Shamantalal Sen, coordinator of burn and plastic surgery unit at the DMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune that the surviving burns patients were still in critical conditions. “It is very hard to recover from such deep wounds.”
However, he said all efforts were underway to provide the best possible medical care to the injured individuals.
