Abdul Mannan had to do what he had always been unwilling to watch in films — a man carrying the body of his son — because of the grief it inflicted on him. And he had to carry home his son, who died in fire that broke out in the Ha-Meem Group apparel factory on Tuesday.
Twenty-four people died in the fire that broke out in the ninth-floor of the 11-storey building at Ashulia.
Sujan, 22, who had worked as a machine operation in the factory, was among the dead.
Mannan said Sujan was the only member of the family who earned the bread. Mannan’s other son and daughter are still students — of a school run by a non-governmental organisation at Mithapukur in Rangpur where the family lives. The hapless father had to carry the body home from Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Wednesday.
‘There are no words. I cannot tell you what it feels like carrying my son dead home,’ Mannan said. ‘I would not have sent my son to work in an apparel factory if I had known such factories are not safe.’
‘The last time I saw my son was during Eid. I could not even imagine then that I would not see him again,’ he said.
Sujan’s cousin, Mizan, said crying, ‘I met him the day the accident took place. He asked me to take keep safe. But he could not take care of himself.’
Most of the people who lost their relatives to the fire took away the bodies. Some of such people still waiting at the morgue were fainting often.
‘I could hardly imaging my brother would die in such a fire,’ said Montu Mia. His brother Chan Mia also died in the fire.
Twenty-one bodies were handed over to the families of the deceased at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue, magistrate Abul Basher Mohammad Fakhruzzaman said about 2:30pm. ‘Each of the families was given Tk 10,000 for burial and other such rites from the deputy commissioner’s office of Dhaka.’
Two bodies were handed over to the families at Nari O Shishu Hospital at Ashulia and one was handed over to the family at Combined Military Hospital at Savar.
