Having worked hard for a couple of days, day labourer Md Hossain, 50, was going back home from Chittagong on a pickup van. When the van reached the Feni Sadar Police Station area, some pickets hurled petrol and crude bombs at it.
Before Hossain could get off, the fire burned 60% of his body. The attack occurred around 7.30pm on Sunday, and Hossain was admitted to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) around 2am yesterday.
Soon after admission, Hossain was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the burn institute. Dr Partha Shankar Pal, residential surgeon of the DMCH burn institute, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Hossain’s lung system was badly affected from the fire, which is why we had to shift him to the ICU for emergency oxygen support. We are trying our best, but others depend on his fate,” he added.
A visit to the hospital Hossain’s wife and children had not yet reached the hospital from Chormatin union of Komolanagar in Feni. His niece, Shimu, stood beside him in absence of his loved ones.
In a phone chat, his son, Nur Alam, told the Dhaka Tribune that his father, a day labourer, used to load goods onto trucks. In their eight-member family, he and his father are the only breadwinners. Hearing of the accident, Alam’s mother blacked out, and was admitted to a local hospital. “I am coming to the capital for my father,” Alam said.
“My elder sister, Sahida, lost her husband three months back, while my younger brother and three other sisters are still in school,” said Alam. “I am seeing blackness in our future, and don’t know what awaits in our destiny,” added Alam in a pained voice.
Since the blockade began, 135 people with burn injuries have been treated at DMCH till date. Of these, 60 are still undergoing treatment. Among these 60 burn victims, eight are being treated at the ICU while 10 others are in the High Dependency Unit.
Further, while undergoing treatment at the burn institute, private car driver Abul Kalam, Jessore bus helper Murad Molla, Rangpur’s Tasiran Begum, a street child, Jakir Hossain, Satkhira businessman Abdur Rahim, Sylhet truck driver Bakul Debnath, contractor Nur Alam, Luxmipur pickup van driver Kamal Hossain, and Cox’s Bazar resident Rashedul Islam have already succumbed to injuries.
