For different purposes, they went to the “Green Cozy Cottage” building in the capital’s Bailey Road area on February 29. Many were celebrating the “Leap Year," many others were observing their weekend, and some were shopping.
But the deadly fire in the seven-storey commercial building that housed at least eight upscale eateries and shops illegally snuffed out 46 lives on that fateful night, leaving the survivors traumatized.
Even four days after one of the devastating building fires in the country, they still look frightened as they remember the events or even when asked about them.
Faridul Islam, a food deliveryman, who was among the lucky ones, was inside the building during the blaze, suffering minor injuries on his hands and in the head.
“My family would have been in despair if I had died. I don't want to remember that day anymore. I want some peaceful sleep."
Kazi Naushad Anam went to the Kacchi Bhai restaurant in the building with his friends to celebrate “Leap Year.”
An admission-seeker at Rajshahi University, Naushad entered the restaurant around 8:30 pm after buying a train ticket for Rajshahi.
As he saw the blaze, Naushad jumped off the 2nd floor of the building and sustained injuries to his hands, face, and legs. He is currently being treated at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.
His father said Naushad suffered some inhalation burns too.
Meanwhile, the father of Rakibul Islam, another survivor who was a salesman at a shop in the building, said his son was in the washroom when the fire spread.
“He (Rakibul) kept on calling me over the phone, saying he was trapped inside the building. However, my younger son and his friends risked their lives to reach there, rescuing him by breaking open a window in the washroom,” he said.
Abrar Fardin, an expatriate software engineer, joined his friends Mehedi Hasan and Umme Habiba Sumaiya for dinner in a restaurant there.
“Soon after hearing the news of a fire breaking out, we tried to leave the spot. But we could not come out immediately,” Fardin recalled. “So, I posted a Facebook status about my updates and sought help for rescue,” he said.
Fardin is still hospitalized with burn injuries. “I almost met my death,” he said.
However, his two friends are still being treated due to respiratory problems.
Three of Thursday’s fire survivors are still admitted to the burn institute, sources confirmed on Sunday evening.
Earlier in the day, two more survivors were discharged from the institute, where 11 were undergoing treatment following the inferno.
Resident Surgeon Dr Tariqul Islam said: "Three people with various complications, including breathing problems, have been kept under observation at the institution. They will be discharged when they fully recover.”
Following the tragedy, Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen said that such patients are more traumatized than their burn wounds.
Firefighters said they rescued 70 people, including 42 in an unconscious state, from the rooftop and different floors of the building.
Suffocation was found to be the main cause of most of the deaths. Even though the fire broke out at a tea shop on the ground floor, the blaze spread fast since the gas cylinders, kept in the staircase on several floors, exploded.
