Nepal plane crash survivor Shahreen returns, says her seat position saved her

Shahreen Ahmed, one of the 10 Bangladeshi survivors of the Nepal air disaster, says she cheated death because the Nepalese Army personnel pulled her out thanks to the position of her seat on the front side of the aircraft.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 15 March 2018, 04:49 PM
Updated : 15 March 2018, 05:47 PM

The 29-year-old schoolteacher was brought back to Bangladesh and admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s burns unit on Thursday.

Doctors said she suffered burns and bone fracture but was out of danger.

Her brother Sarfaraz Ahmed, who accompanied Shahreen from Nepal, told the media at the DMCH his sister’s condition was ‘better’ than all other survivors of the crash.

Wounded in the US-Bangla Airlines plane crash at Kathmandu, Shahreen Ahmed was flown back to Bangladesh and admitted to the burns unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Thursday. Photo: asif mahmud ove

He said the doctors in Nepal had said she would need a ‘minor operation’ and wanted to keep her there for the surgery.

Sarfaraz said he brought Shahreen back because it was possible to conduct the surgery in Bangladesh.

“Her condition is good, but she has a fracture in her leg,” he said.

Citing Shahreen’s statement, he said, “She escaped death because she was on the front side of the aircraft. The Nepalese Army personnel pulled her out. Otherwise, she would not have got out.”

Forty-nine of the 71 people on board the aircraft died when it crashed and caught fire near the runway of Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Monday.

Shahreen is the first Bangladeshi survivor of the crash to return home.

A junior programme officer of the Scholastica School at Uttara in Dhaka, Shahreen was travelling to Nepal with a team of tourists. She was treated at Kathmandu Medical College Hospital after the accident.

Her brother urged the media not to contact her now because, he said, she was in a ‘trauma’.

“She might suffer more trauma if asked about the incident again,” Sarfaraz said.

Dr Samanta Lal Sen, the coordinator of the DMCH burns unit, said Shahreen was in a ‘stable condition’.

She suffered a fracture besides deep burns in 5 percent of her body, according to him.

“We will conduct some tests. Overall, she is in a good condition,” he said.

Health Secretary Serajul Huq Khan, who was also present at the hospital, said a team of seven Bangladeshi burns, orthopaedic and forensic specialists went to Nepal earlier in the day for the treatment of the victims of the crash.