Nine women die in a month from fire lit to alleviate severe winter cold

With two fresh deaths at Rangpur Medical College and Hospital, the death toll from the straw fire has reached nine in a month when severe cold swept across the region.

In all the fire incidents the women set some twigs and straws on fire to save themselves and their children from biting cold, according to our correspondents.

On Saturday, Moni Begum, 25, from Rangpur city’s Mahiganj and Marufa Khatun, 30, from Nilphamari’s Sonarom were brought the hospital with burnt injuries and died while undergoing treatment, according to doctor Maruful Islam.

Maruful, who heads the burns unit of the hospital, said Moni and Marufa died in the evening.

Moni was admitted to the hospital on Jan 10, two days after Marufa. Around 70 percent of their bodies were burnt, the doctor said.

He said 44 others burnt in similar fire incidents, including 10 critically, were being treated in the hospital.

All the people burnt in these incidents are women, excluding three children, from the northern districts.

The seven others who died earlier are Ankhi Akter, 45, from Thakurgaon, Ruma Khatun, 65, and Golapi Begum, 30, from Rangpur, Shammi Akter, 27, Fatema Begum, 32, and Alo Begum, 22, from Lalmonirhat, and Rehana Begum, 25, from Nilphamari.

The temperature started to drop at the beginning of January and hit 2.6 degrees Celsius, the lowest on record in Panchagarh’s Tentulia amid a cold-wave on Jan 8. Cold-waves severely hit mostly the northern districts in Bangladesh.

Protecting themselves from cold during winter by setting fire to twigs or garbage on fields or streets is very common in the countryside.