A jolly evening get-together turns a nightmare for a family as five its members were among those charred in Thursday night's fire tragedy in Dhaka's high-society Bailey Road.
A total of 46 people burnt to death and 13 others suffered severe burns and were fighting for life, officials said.
The whole family went to a restaurant called Kacchi Bhai, located on the second floor of the non-compliant seven-story building, for a get- together before their departure for Italy.
They didn't know it would be their last dinner--lives of the family members ended up in a bizarre tragedy in the fiery night just 20 days before their flight for Italy in search of a decent living.
Now, all of them are laid in eternal rest side by side in their ancestral home at Sarail in Brahmanbaria district. The end of the entire family shocked people of all walks of life.
According to the relatives of charred family members, Syed Mubarak Hossain Kawsar, an expatriate who works in Italy, returned to Bangladesh less than two months ago to take his family to the European country with him.
And Kawsar recently managed to get Italian visa for his wife Swapna (35), two daughters--Kashfia (17) and Noor (13)--and only son Abdullah (7).
Before their flight, they wanted to have dinner altogether outside to celebrate this fortune. But their hope of leading a decent life overseas got completely shattered with sad demise of the whole family, according to them.
Like Kawsar family, the fire tragedy was too frightening for Sayek Ahmed who lost his wife and two children in one of the worst-ever fire incident the country ever witnessed.
Talking to the media, Sayek said his wife Nafisa Akhter, 28, and children Arhan, 7, and Adiyat, 3, went to the same restaurant where he was supposed to join them.
"But I didn't join in time. Suddenly, I got the news about the fire and I rushed to the spot, only to find their dead bodies. This incident takes away everything from me," he mourns.
The situation was almost same for Ria, Alisha and Nimo who visited the fire-hit building for last-minute shopping for Ria who was supposed to fly for Malaysia the following day.
Ria was accompanied by her sister Alisha and cousin Nimo but they did not return because of the devastating fire, Ria's father, Korban Ali, laments.
"How I can live without my daughters….This fire takes away everything from me," says Korban Ali, as he bursts into tears.
And deputy inspector-general of the police headquarters Nasirul Islam becomes speechless in shock as his daughter Lamisha Islam's life also ended pathetically in the fire.
Lamisha, who recently got admitted into BUET, went to a restaurant located in the building, which is close to her house there, and experienced the same sad consequences.
Relatives said the DIG lost his wife six years ago. Since then, he had taken care of his two daughters. With the loss of his elder daughter, he is left distraught.
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