Armanitola fire kills 4

Sumaiya Sarkar, 20, youngest daughter of Ibrahim Sarkar, already died. Eldest daughter Muna Sarkar and her husband Ashiquzzaman Khan are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in a hospital. They tied the knot just a month and a half ago.

Muna and Ashiquzzaman are studying at Jagannath University and at BUET respectively. Sumaiya was a 2nd-year student in the English department at Eden Women's College.

The Armanitola fire in old Dhaka did not spare any of the six-member family of Ibrahim Sarkar. Everyone is now groaning in the beds of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

Ibrahim Sarkar himself got admitted there. Wife Sufia Sarkar and son Junaid Sarkar are also undergoing treatment at the hospital.

On Friday afternoon, this correspondent talked to Ibrahim's nephew Nazmul Haque. "The condition of Muna and her husband is critical. The rest were not sustained burn injuries but they were sick by inhaling smoke," Nazmul said.

He said angrily that no one took caution even after the Churihatta incident.

Sumaiya's body has been kept at Mitford Hospital in Dhaka. She will be buried at her village home in Sonargaon. However, no one in Ibrahim Sarkar's family will be able to present at her burial.

Ashikuzzaman's father Abul Kashem Khan came from Mymensingh in the morning after receiving the news. "My son got married a month and half ago. Studying from his aunt's house, he came to his father-in-law's house the night before. Being informed that there was a fire in the chemical warehouse on the ground floor, I came to the hospital," he is unable to say more.

Khandaker Nazmul Haque, assistant surgeon at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, said a total of 20 people who sustained injuries in the Armanitola fire incident had been admitted to the hospital. Four of them are in ICU while the rest are in the post-operative unit.

"ICU patients have burns all over their bodies. Their respiratory tracts were also damaged,"  he also said.

Besides, six members of another family, including a child, are also groaning in the beds of the hospital. They are Delwar Hossain, his wife Laila, two sons Safayet Hossain and Shakil Hossain, Safayet's wife Mili and their two-year-old daughter Yashfa. Among them, the condition of Safayet is critical. He is being treated in the ICU.

Delwar's relative Hosne Ara Begum said, "I was having sehri. At that time, Delwar was crying over the phone, saying, "Please save us. I get stuck in the fire. Forgive me when I die. Let's arrange a Quran khatam, "Delwar said with a sigh.

Hosne Ara rushed to the building as soon as she got the call. Firefighters rescued six members of the family and took them to Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital. From there, they were sent to the Burn Institute.

Four members of another family also got admitted at the hospital. They are Yunus Mollah, his wife Meherun Nesa, daughter Fabiha and son Akash. The family lived on the third floor of the building.

At least four people died and 21 others injured in a fire at a chemical warehouse in the ground floor of a six-storied building named Haji Musa Mansion in the Armanitola area of Old Dhaka early Friday.

The deceased are Rasel, 32, and Waliullah, 50, guards of the building, and residents Sumaiya, 22, and Md Kabir, 40.

Various sorts of chemical substances were stored at the ground floor, said Mahfuz Riben, duty officer at the control room of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Twenty firefighting units brought the blaze under control at 6:08am, he added.

Debashis Bardhan, deputy director (Dhaka division) of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said they recovered the body of Rasel Mia, a security guard of the building, from the spot.

Another victim, Sumaiya was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) where she was declared dead. Besides, two bodies were recovered from the fourth floor of the building, the Fire Service official continued.

Many people, including members of the Fire Service, were injured and sustained burns in the incident.

The injured were admitted to Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital and Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

"A probe body will be formed to ascertain the exact cause of the fire," Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Brig Gen Md Sazzad Hussain said during a visit to the spot.

Old Dhaka remains a ticking time bomb during fires because of illegal chemical warehouses, unplanned building construction, narrow roads and high population density.

In February 2019, a devastating fire at Wahed Mansion in the Churihatta area of Chawkbazar claimed 71 lives. In June 2010, a deadly fire in Nimtoli of Old Dhaka took 124 lives.