A biriyani stop turns tragic

A check-up with the dentist. This is why Lutfun Nahar Lucky, a 47-year-old senior teacher at Viqarunnisa Noon School & College left home on Thursday night. She was accompanied by her daughter Jannatin Tazri, 23, a student of BRAC University.

Little did Lucky's husband Golam Mohiuddin know this would be the last time he sees them.

Yesterday, Golam Mohiuddin recalled a lighthearted joke he made with his wife just hours before tragedy struck.

"I even made fun of her, asking you want to have biriyani even though you have dental problems?"

This was their last conversation. Just hours later, he was staring dumbfounded at the bodies of Lucky and Tazri.

Accompanied by Tazri, Lucky had gone to Popular Diagnostic to get treatment for a toothache. After an X-ray, both were on their way back to their Shantinagar home, said Golam.

"I do not know what my wife was thinking, but she wanted to have biriyani on the way back."

"When I came to know about the fire, I immediately rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and found their lifeless bodies," Golam told The Daily Star around 3:30am at DMCH premises.

"I should have been there, I should have been there," Golam kept repeating. "Maybe I could have found a way out of the burning building," he added.

The mother daughter duo were among the 46 victims of the devastating fire at the Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall on Bailey Road.

"I don't know how I will be able to collect and take their lifeless bodies home," Golam said, still staring at his wife and daughter.

Meanwhile, the acting principal of Viqarunnisa Noon School & College in a condolence message said Lucky was a senior teacher at the institute and her daughter a former student.

All the members of the governing body, teachers, officers, employees, students, and parents of the institutes are saddened by their deaths.