The 50-year-old day labourer who died at the ICU of DMCH after losing a 72-hour struggle for life, was the only bread earner in his family.
A covered van assistant by trade, Md Hossain, 50, was admitted to the ICU at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) early Monday where he succumbed to his injuries around 10am yesterday.
Dr Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon of the burn institute at DMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune that Hossain’s respiratory system was badly damaged by the fire.
The victim was on his way home to Char Matin union of Kamalanagar, Lakshmipur, from Chittagong when the covered van he worked on came under attack near Feni Sadar police station last Sunday.
Before he could escape the flaming vehicle, 60% of his body was burned by the fire.
The victim’s son Nurnabi, burst into tears while explaining to the Dhaka Tribune that his father was the sole earner of the family which includes his mother, two brothers and two sisters.
Nurnabi, an intermediate science student at Lakshmipur Hazirhat Degree College, said the family moved to the Kamalanagar area after they lost their previous home a few years ago due to Meghna River erosion.
“Since then, we have had financial problems and to help my father I often work at a garment factory. Now our source of support is gone and we do not know what will become of us,” he said.
“My father had nothing to do with politics. Why did he have to die like this?” he asked, adding that his mother, Nurjahan: “had lost her senses,” since she heard her husband had died.
Hossain’s elder daughter Sayida’s husband abandoned her a few months after the marriage and she has lived at her father’s house ever since, he said.
His second daughter, Saju, lost her husband a couple of months earlier.
All of these family members relied on Hossain, the victim’s son Nurnabi said.
According to the DMCH burn institute registrar, some 140 people have been treated at the hospital since the blockade began on January 6.
Of them, 50 are currently undergoing treatment, of whom seven are in intensive care and eight others are in the High Dependency Unit.
