'Pray for me'

"There's a fire in our building. The flames are spreading fast.  I do not know whether I will be able to get out. Tell everyone to pray for me...forgive me."

These were the last words of Nahidul Islam Tushar, 32, to his wife Mahmuda Akther when he found himself trapped in the FR Tower during Thursday's fire.

He also called his father Ihsak, mother Nurunnahar, elder brother Tuhin and younger brother Shishir and told them to pray for him in the afternoon. Soon afterwards, around 2:00pm, no one could reach him over the phone, said grieving family members in Gorai area of Tangail's Mirzapur.

Fire fighters brought out his body from the high-rise building hours later.

While talking to his loved ones over the phone, he also asked them to try to do something so that he would be rescued.

But the family members felt utterly helpless and had little to do but pray for him.

A graduate of hotel management, Tushar was the second among three brothers, his father Ihsak Ali said.

He was a senior officer at a agency, housed on the 10th floor of FR Tower.

He was known in his village as a good cricketer.

He and his wife lived in Dhaka.

As his body reached his village in Mirzapur around 3:00am yesterday, the family members and relatives broke down in tears.

Over a hundred residents of the area gathered to offer condolences as the day broke. 

He was buried after a namaz-e-janaza around 10:00am.