CHATTOGRAM, June 5: Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) turned into a place of grieving people as they flocked to the hospital on Sunday to look for their dear ones following explosions at the BM Container Depot in the port city's Sitakunda Saturday night.
From morning, the relatives started gathering at the health facility to look for the missing victims. They were seen running to every ambulance arriving at the hospital's emergency department.
A huge gathering was seen in front of the Chattogram Medical College morgue. The relatives of ill-fated victims were wailing there as they could not see the bodies of their dear ones who were burnt in the blast.
Saleha Begum, wife of one Mamun, a staffer of the BM Container depot, was searching for her husband at the morgue. Mamun had been missing after the explosion that had killed 49 people till filing of the report as of 9:00pm.
More than 300 injured - of whom, many received burn injuries - were undergoing treatment at different hospitals in Chattogram. Of the total, around 200 injured patients were undergoing treatment at CMCH, as per the hospital sources.
CMCH Assistant Director Dr Rajib Palit said, "The condition of the injured people is very critical. We are providing them treatment in the burn unit and other units of the hospital."
"Some of the injured people have been shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) as their conditions are very critical," he added.
Meanwhile, several hundred students of Chittagong University were waiting on the CMCH premises to donate blood to the injured victims. Besides, many volunteers were also working at the hospital to help the injured people.
Kamal Uddin, an attendant of an injured patient waiting outside the CMCH, said, "I cannot go inside the hospital due to a huge gathering. I don't know how my brother is."
Deputy Minister for Education Barrister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel called upon the people not to gather at the hospital unnecessarily.
Mayor of Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Alhaj Rejaul Karim Chowdhury also visited the hospital.
The district administration is giving Tk 25,000 to each killed victim, while Tk 15,000 to each injured.
On the other hand, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury Foundation donated medicine worth Tk 200,000 for the victims at CMCH.
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