Chattogram pipeline explosion: Story unfolds in tragedy 

When a tragic incident takes place, it is not about how many people died and got injured only. Rather, it goes beyond mere numbers – it becomes about how dreams are shattered for many a family.

What do family members go through when they lose their lone bread earner? 

At least seven people were killed and 21 injured in a gas pipeline explosion in Chattogram's Patharghata area yesterday.

The lives of many people turned upside down in an instant.

Hope of a physically challenged man for a better life comes crashing down

Physically challenged Md Ismail, 30, came to Chattogram on Saturday, hoping for a better life. But an unforeseen accident almost shattered his dream as he is now fighting for his life on a hospital bed.       

Ismail was one of the people injured in the gas pipeline explosion. 

He is now being treated in the casualty ward of Chattogram Medical College Hospital. 

Doctors say his condition is critical and that he might need surgery.  

When this correspondent went to visit him in the hospital, his crippled legs were bandaged, and he had marks of injury under his eyes, and on his chest and forehead. 

He could only talk for a short while. Tears were rolling down his face as though he might have been remembering the dreadful moments of the tragedy that he went through some hours ago.

After his father passed away, Ismail had to take the responsibility of his family as he is the eldest among two brothers and a sister, said Ismail. He came to Chattogram city as what he used to earn as a day labourer in his locality was not enough to maintain his family. 

"I came here [Chattogram city] to earn more and change my lot. But everything has finished," 

Brother narrowly escaped but not sister

Arpita Nath, 13, and her brother Arnob, 12, were getting ready for school in the morning. A few days ago their parents Kajal Debnath and Moni Nath had left for their village home. The only guardian they had at the house was their aunt Sondha Rani Das.

A few minutes before the explosion occurred, Arnob went out to get breakfast and was unhurt, but his sister Arpita was not that lucky. She suffered burns on over 30 percent of her body and has been sent to Dhaka Medical College for better treatment. Their aunt Sandha is being treated at the casualty ward of Chattogram Medical College Hospital.  

"I went to a nearby eatery to buy food for our breakfast. All of sudden I heard a loud sound, and I rushed back to my house. I saw everything was smashed. My sister was lying down with burn injuries and she could not speak," Arnob told The Business Standard and broke down into tears.

11-month-old child lost her father

Eleven-month-old Miftahul Jannat Mifta who has just learnt to crawl, does not even know what she has lost. 

Her father Nur Islam, a housepainter by profession, was working in the adjacent building when the explosion took place.

His wife Sadiya Sultana repeatedly cried "My daughter has become an orphan", while wailing in a room beside the hospital morgue.

Sadiya said they were married around two and a half years back.

Nine injured people are being treated at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, and the seven dead bodies are in the hospital morgue, said Dr Akhtarul Islam, director of the hospital.