A year on, families are haunted by memories of Churihatta fire victims

Fatematuz Zohra Brishti and Rehnuma Tarannum Dola shared an unwavering bond of friendship from childhood in Old Dhaka's Chawkbazar. As fate would have it, they both went missing last year when a devastating inferno engulfed a neighbourhood in Chawkbazar. But even in death, the two friends seemingly remain inseparable as they lie in rest at the capital's Azimpur Graveyard.

Senior CorrespondentKamal Hossain Talukdar, bdnews24.com
Published : 19 Feb 2020, 11:46 AM
Updated : 19 Feb 2020, 11:46 AM

A year on from the tragedy in Churihatta, the families of Brishti and Dola are still reeling from their deaths. While clinging on to their belongings provides some comfort, it also invokes painful memories for the bereaved families.

Brishti, who lived in Rahim Box Lane, was a student of the Child Care Department in Home Economics College. Dola, a law student in the University of Professionals, resided in Sheikh Shaheb Bazar Road.

On Feb 20 last year, the two friends were returning home on a rickshaw from a programme at Shilpakala Academy when they met their ends in the blaze at the Churihatta intersection.

The families were initially unsure of what had happened to them.  Dola’s father Dalilur Rahman Dulal reported them missing in a general diary filed with the Lalbagh Police Station.

The forensics department of the Criminal Investigation Department identified Brishti's body on Mar 7. Five days later on Mar 12, Dola's body was identified through DNA testing.

But the pain of losing them is as fresh now as it was a year ago for the families.

Brishti's brother Sami Zaber Shuvo on Monday spoke about the grief that has beset the family at their home in Rahim Baksh Lane.

"Me and my brother sleep on Apu's (Brishti) bed nowadays," he said after a brief pause as he stared towards his sister's old room.

He pointed at Brishti's books and cosmetics through which her memories live on. Their mother sometimes comes to the room and looks at the books, but their father does not, said Shuvo.

"Sometimes me and my mother visit Dola apu's house," said Shuvo.

The two families still maintain the same relationship as they did while Brishti and Dola were alive, Brishti’s mother Shamsunnahar told bdnews24.com over the phone.

“Both families share the same trauma. We have to nurture this pain for as long as we live,” she said.

Brishti’s father Jashimuddin, however, was unwilling to revisit the incident. “Lot of questions arose in my mind when my daughter went missing, like whether she was abducted or not.”

“When we were sure about what happened to our daughter through the DNA test, those questions were answered. We have buried our daughter. Now I don’t want to recall those days.”

But Dola's mother Sufia Rahman is still struggling to cope with her daughter's passing. The family is now living with Dola’s younger sister Malia Mehbin Nusa, she said. “Time doesn’t seem to move on and we have to bear this pain until our deaths.” 

Dola’s father does not work any more but spends his days going through her photos on a computer and watering  plants on the rooftop, she said.

Brishti’s ancestral home is in Banchharampur in Brahmanbaria while Dola’s family is from Bhulta, Narayanganj. The two families are living in Dhaka for a long time

WHO WILL EASE THE PAIN?

Two brothers, Masud Rana, 38 and Mahbubur Rahman Raju, 34 lost their lives in the deadly blaze that night. They owned the shop ‘MR Telecom Centre’ on the ground floor of Wahed Bhaban.

The brothers hailed from Ghoshkamta village in Sonaimuri, Noakhali. Raju got married just 26 days before his death. He is survived by his three-month-old son Habibur Rahman Abraz.

Their father Sahebullah Mia was left devastated by the deaths of his two sons, whom he raised through several hardships. It took a severe toll on his health as he now walks with the help of a stick.

“I don’t know what to do. What will be the future of Raju’s little child and his wife?” he said.

“Who will ease my pain? They were my strength. I have another son but he has just finished his studies. There’s nothing more painful than losing two grown-up sons."

Masud’s uncle MA Rahim said that he too had a shop on the ground floor of Wahed Mansion. He went home just eight minutes before the fire broke out on Feb 20.

The brothers' parents also visited the shop that night but they left just a minute before the disaster struck, said Rahim.

The horrific blaze on Feb 20 last year took the lives of 71 people while leaving many others injured and fighting psychological scars as well.  

On the day of the 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.