A year on, traumatised Churihatta inferno victims battling for normal life

Life in the Churihatta intersection, the place in Old Dhaka’s Chawkbazar that was reduced to ashes by an inferno a year ago, has gone back to its normal mode. One can easily see the heavy traffic of rickshaw and cars, traders busy with their work and people moving around. But some of the people like Mohammed Liton, Nur Alam , Mohammed Selim, Salahuddin and Sohel, who survived the blaze, are yet to return to their regular life.

Kamal Hossain Talukderbdnews24.com
Published : 18 Feb 2020, 05:46 PM
Updated : 18 Feb 2020, 06:50 PM

The horrific blaze on Feb 10 last year took the lives of 71 people while leaving many others injured and fighting psychological scars as well. Many people ran away and saved themselves. Some of them still bear the wounds. Some of them went back to their ancestral homes and never came back.

On the day of incident, fire broke out in Wahed Mansion, a four-storey building in Churihatta intersection and spread over the neighbourhood very fast.

The place crammed with buildings that housed plastic, perfume factories and shops storing a lot of flammable chemicals in them helped the fire to spread quickly. Some of the people were simply charred before they could realise what had happened. The fire dented shops and melted cars and rickshaws.

The Fire Service tamed the flames with its 37 units working frantically for 14 hours. Churihatta turned a pyre when the rescuers recovered 67 charred bodies and sent those to the morgue. The death toll later rose to 71.

Mohammed Liton survived the fire by running away from the scene that day. He runs a small grocer’s called ‘Lamia Store’ at the road on west side of Wahed Mansion.

He spoke to bdnews24.com on Monday ahead of the first anniversary of the dreadful fire incident.

“All products in my store burned to ashes on that night. I have borrowed money to run the store again. I’m trying my best to forget the incident and live a normal life but I can’t forget that terrible night,” said Liton.

“Now it is 10.31pm. It’s the exact time when the incident took place that night. See, I’m having goosebumps and trembling in fear,” he said, looking looked at his watch.

Nur Alam was injured during the fire when he was passing by the area pulling his battery-powered rickshaw. He received treatment for 15 days in the hospital and went to his ancestral home in Galachipa, Patuakhali. He has not returned to Dhaka ever since.

"I'm doing well now. I had 25 stitches on my head and injuries in my hands. It’s a miracle that I survived," he told bdnews24.com.

"I am doing better here in the village. I am running a rickshaw garage and living with my family.

"I don't feel like going back," said Alam when asked why he never returned to Dhaka.

Mohammed Selim, 30, from Karnakhola, Naria in Shariatpur is not keeping well, said his family.

Selim worked in a mirror factory, said his sister-in-law Lucky Begum. He had his right hand, leg, an ear and back burnt in the fire. He received treatment for three months and went to his village home but has not recovered from the wound on his back.

"His family is in severe financial hardship because he can't work," said Lucky.

Selim had received Tk 50,000 from the government during his treatment but has got no further assistance.

Salahuddin, 45, a cloth trader from Islampur, was injured in the incident as well. He is yet to recover fully.

"He still suffers occasional head pain. He is not fully recovered, but goes to his shop sometimes," said Selim's elder brother Nasiruddin.

Helal Sikdar from Mirzapur, Patuakhali, who suffered burn injuries in the Churihatta fire, is doing well now, said his brother Belal Sikdar.

Helal, a rickshaw van puller is living in his village now.

Mohammad Ali and Sohel were pushing a rickshaw van on the road at the west of Wahed Mansion on the night the fire broke out. Both of them ran for their life leaving the van behind when they heard an explosion.

"I wouldn't be alive today if I didn't run that night," Sohel from Bakerganj, Barishal told bdnews24.com

Mohammad Ali went to his ancestral home in Ujirpur following the Incident, said Sohel. Ali does not want to return to Dhaka, he added.

Sohel is traumatised with the fire incident he had experienced, he said.

"I just run away even if I see a spark. There was a small fire in Urdu Road the nday before yesterday and I just ran away from the scene," he said.

The 71 dead in Churihatta fire had 27 workers in them. The labour ministry paid each of the injured Tk 50,000 for medical treatment. The prime minister will provide financial aid to the families of the 27 deceased workers.

Identifying the successors to the deceased workers proved to be a problem, which caused the delay, said an official at the labour ministry who wished not to be named. The families will receive the cash aid ‘soon’, he added.