A phone call, followed by an everlasting silence.

"Please pray, so that I can return alive. There is fire all around."

This was the last conversation between Juwel Gazi, 27, a staff of the Pizza Inn restaurant, and his wife Reba Akter, 25. Juwel died from injuries sustained after jumping off the building housing the Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall during a fire on Thursday night.

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Death came draped in smoke

Reba was found looking for her husband in front of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital emergency unit around 5:00am early yesterday, with Jewel's picture on her cell phone.

"Juwel called me around 10:05pm. Both of our children were asleep at the time," said Reba.

"Juwel was breathing heavily when he called. He even wanted to talk to the children but I told him they went to sleep."

Reba said the phone got disconnected after a while. Later, she tried to call Juwel repeatedly but failed.

Nearly three hours later, at approximately 1:00am, Reba learned that her husband Juwel had been admitted to the intensive care unit at DMCH.

Juwel and his nephew Mohammad Rakib, 22, both used to work in the restaurant. After the fire broke out, they jumped off the building.

Rakib survived but Jewel couldn't.

Juwel's elder daughter Taslima Akter, 8, was also present at DMCH.

"I could have talked to my father one last time if I weren't sleeping," she kept saying.

Reba said, "My husband worked in the restaurant and earned a monthly salary of Tk 20,000. With this, the family expenses were met. Where will I go now with two children?"

Juwel's elder brother Al Amin, said, "I rushed to the spot after hearing about the fire. I found both -- Rakib and Juwel -- alive. Jewel also spoke to me. He later died at the ICU."

AN UNCLE'S SEARCH FOR HIS NEPHEW

Around 11:30am yesterday, Mokhlesur Rahman was found desperately searching for his twenty-two-year-old nephew, Nazmul Hasan, at DMCH and Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute morgues.

Nazmul, a student of BRAC University, had gone to dine at Kacchi Bhai restaurant, situated on the first floor of the building, along with his two other friends.

Although Nazmul's two other friends managed to exit the building, he got trapped inside. He has been missing since.

"We have been searching for Nazmul since 3am. We do not know whether he is dead or alive," Mokhlesur said yesterday morning.

Six unidentified bodies, five at DMCH and one at the burn institute,  have been burnt beyond recognition. DNA tests will be carried out by authorities concerned soon.