Gazipur fire: Relatives fearing the worst as victims battle for life

With tears in her eyes, Noorjahan was looking towards the hospital's ward. Kamala Khatoon, her mother, was fighting for her life at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

"Amma's condition is not good. The doctors are treating her. I don't know what fate has in store for us."

Upon hearing Noorjahan's words, tears welled up in her sister Suneka's eyes.

"A gas cylinder caught fire. My mother is dying. It was not our fault."

Relatives of many others like Noorjahan and Suneka are waiting with anxiety and dread in front of the burn institute's ICU, HDU and Orange Unit.

One of them is Nazima Begum. Her husband Abdul Quddus's body was completely burnt in the accident.

She said, "A gas cylinder exploded suddenly a while before iftar. It was leaking, and someone threw it outside. But the gas spread on the street. There was someone cooking on a stove nearby. Despite being asked to stop cooking, she didn't. That's when the fire broke out and spread across the street.

"My husband went to see it and got burnt. His entire body caught fire. In a frantic state, he entered the house and told me to take out eggs from the fridge and apply them all over his body. I did as he said. At that moment, overwhelmed with emotions, I fainted," she added.

Abdul Rahim's son, Laden, suffered 85 percent burns.

Rahim said, "My son got burned because he was there when the gas cylinder caught fire. I don't know what's left of him. If something happens to my son, what will I do?"

Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen said today that none of those injured in the fire in a colony at Gazipur's Kaliakoir upazila yesterday were out of danger.

Speaking at the institute, he said the physical condition of the victims was very bad and that six of them were undergoing treatment at the ICU.

''It cannot be said that a burn patient is out of danger until he or she recovers and goes home. The physical condition of most patients is bad,'' Samanta Lal told the reporters.

The health minister said 32 people were admitted to the hospital after being injured in the tragic accident. Sixteen suffered more than 50 percent burns.

Sen said 13 children were undergoing treatment for severe burns. Of them, seven are aged 3 to 10 years and six are between 11 and 18.

He added that at least 13 people suffered 80 to 90 percent burns on their bodies and almost everyone's tracheas were burned.

A medical board has been formed to treat the patients, the health minister said, adding that every effort was being made to treat the patients. Nothing else could be said for certain at this time, he added.