Just before being put on life support, Shahidul Kirmany Rony, who had sustained 43 percent inhalation burns, told his sister Nasrin Akter, "I know my son has died, bury him in Dhaka. Our condition is also not good; I don't know what will happen. Tell father to decide [about us too]." 

Rony, 40, and his wife Jannatul Fardaous, 38, who sustained 95 percent inhalation burns from a devastating fire that completely burned a side of a five-storey building in Eskaton early yesterday morning, were both on life support at the intensive care unit of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic surgery. Their only son, four-year-old AKM Rushdi, and two others -- a buying house staffer Abdul Kader Liton, 40, and a Viqarunnisa Noon School & College Student Afrin Jahan Juthi, 17 -- died in the fire that started around 4:00am at building no 45/a on Dilu Road. 

Dr Samanta Lal Sen, national coordinator of the burn institute, said the couple was suffering from inhalation burns. "We are doing our level best for the recovery," he added. 

When informed of the fire yesterday, eight units of the fire service and civil defence reached the spot around 4:40am and doused the flames around 5:30am, Debashis Bardhan, deputy director in Dhaka of Fire Service and Civil Defence told The Daily Star.  

"We found a body from a room on the ground floor and two other bodies from the second-floor stairs," he said, adding that two were burnt to death while one died of suffocation due to the smoke.  

There were garment accessories in the first and second floors of the building, which caught fire rapidly and spread in the building, said the deputy director. Bardhan said they suspected that the fire originated on the ground-floor garage but they could only be certain of the source after getting the investigation report from the five-member probe committee formed by the fire service and civil defence authorities to investigate the incident. The committee will submit the report within two weeks.   

Abul Hosen, deputy director of Mymensingh Fire Service and Civil Defence, also the member secretary of the committee, said they had started their investigation.   

'SHE WAS FREQUENTLY ASKING FOR HER BABY'

Relaying her last conversation with her brother, when he told her of the incident, Nasrin told this correspondent that Rony tried to escape the building through the stairwell, carrying Rushdi in his arms. But unable to see in the dark, Rony stumbled down the stairs and Rushdi fell out of his arms.   

"Then he [Rony] tried to crawl back up the stairs [for his son], but lost consciousness," Nasrin said.

Charred remains of parked cars inside a building on Dilu Road in the capital’s Eskaton. A devastating fire in the building yesterday morning left three people dead and two others critically injured. Photo: Prabir Das

Nasrin's cousin Sheikh Marufa, standing beside her, said, "We do not know what fate awaits us. Our sister-in-law [Jannatul] stopped talking and has been on life support since 12:00pm. She regained consciousness for a couple of minutes around 10:30am and was frequently asking in a low voice for her baby and her husband."  

Another family -- of vegetable trader Monir Hossain, 40, his wife Sumyia Akter, 30, and sons Mahadi Hasan Rifat, 9, and nine-month-old Mahmudul Hasan – were being treated at the burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital after suffering slight injuries from the fire.   

The family members of the two deceased -- Liton and Juthi -- took the bodies after autopsies conducted at the DMC morgue.   

Talking with The Daily Star, Md Nurunnabi, Liton's nephew, said he was taking his uncle's body to their native village of Luxmipur. To save money, Liton used to live in a small room in the ground floor with his 18-year-old son, Akaduddin Rony, a student of Tejgaon College. But according to Nurunnabi, Akaduddin recently went back to the village due to financial constraints.    

"I do not know what will happen to my uncle's family now," he said.   

17-year-old Juthi was supposed to attend the Higher Secondary Examination on April 1. She used to live with his father Jahangir Alam, an official of department of public works, and her mother Umme Kulsum. Her elder brother Ashik Apon is a student of Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University.   

Juthi's uncle Md Suruzzaman said his father and mother sustained leg injuries while trying to escape to the adjacent building's rooftop. Her brother had escaped, but Juthi died in the fire when trying to exit by the stairs, he added.   

Lutfur Rahman, the security guard of the building, told this correspondent that he was woken up around 4:00am yesterday by the sound of burning wire and soon found a fire had originated in the electric meter box in the garage.    

"A wooden bed was near the meter box and the fire spread very fast. I then ran out of the building with my grandchild Sifat [13]," he said, adding that he then tried to alert the residents and neighbours by shouting and asked them not to come downstairs.