Many of those missing after the Gazi Tyres fire have yet to return home

“Over 20 days have passed. We still have hope, but there is no information yet,” says the wife of a missing man

Seven-year-old Tamim, the eldest of Gazi Tyres worker Monir Hossain’s three children, has come to realise that his father is never coming home. But his four-year-old brother Aminul is still waiting. He feels sad that his father has been gone so long.

No one has been able to make him understand that Monir may never return. Whenever they tell him that his father is dead, Aminul responds:

“My father isn’t dead. He’s just gone abroad, like my uncle. He’ll be back.”

Monir lived in a rented house near the Gazi Tyres factory at Maikuli village in Narayanganj’s Rupganj. On Aug 25, the factory was looted and set ablaze. After hearing the news, Monir went to the factory and then went missing. His family have tried to find him, but their efforts have turned up nothing.

Monir hailed from Sunamganj’s Sadar Upazila. His elder brother Zakir Hossain came to Rupganj after hearing that he had gone missing.

“Monir’s youngest child is two-tear-old Meem. A week ago, she ran a high fever. The little girl cried throughout the night and kept asking everyone for her father - ‘Call father, ask him to carry me on his lap. Why isn’t he coming?’,” Zakir said.

He choked up as he said the words. Then the tears started streaming down.

“I can’t hold back my tears when I see these young children. Can’t we even get the mortal remains of my brother back?”

The family returned to their village home after collecting some soil and ash from the debris at the Gazi Tyres factory on Aug 30. Monir's brothers are now looking after his wife and children.

Monir was a worker at the tube section of the Gazi Tyres factory, Zakir said. However, the factory authorities said that there was no worker or staff member inside the factory when it was vandalised and set ablaze.

Believing Monir to be dead, the family held a 'gayebana janaza' - a funeral prayer service without the dead body present - on Aug 30.

Gazi Tyres is owned by Golam Dastagir Gazi, former jute and textile minister of the Awami League government. His Rupganj factory was attacked and vandalised on Aug 5, after the government fell in the face of a mass movement.

On Aug 25, former minister Gazi was arrested from Shantinagar. A group of people looted the factory on the same day and set it ablaze.

The fire continued for four days before the Fire Service and Civil Defence finally managed to douse it on the fifth day.

The families of those who went missing after the fire gathered at the factory the next morning. They submitted the names, photos and national ID cards of the missing to the factory authorities. The list includes more than 150 names.

Hundreds of people took part in looting the factory, the local administration had said. People from adjacent areas also joined the looting. It is believed that many of them could not escape when the factory was torched and the blaze spread.

Meanwhile, the damage to the building makes any Fire Service recovery mission quite risky. The local administration said that the factory stored a lot of chemicals, which made the fire burn for a longer time. As such, it is quite unlikely that mortal remains may be found inside. Everything could be burnt to ash.

After the fire was doused, law enforcing agencies blocked anyone from entering the factory due to 'safety issues'. However, some members of the families of the missing have evaded security and recovered some skulls and bones. Later, they handed those over to the administration. The administration said they would conduct DNA tests to identify the missing victims.

Twenty days have passed since the incident, but the families have yet to hear about any initiative on the issue.

Now they spend their days waiting, shedding tears. They hoped their loved ones would return or that they could, at least, find their bodies.

'THE FIRE IS OUT, BUT MY HEART STILL BURNS'

Twenty-year-old Aman Ullah went missing after the Gazi Tyres fire. His mother Rashida Begum has been crying for her son. Aman worked in a nearby battery factory.

On Aug 25, Aman called home around 10pm and said he was stuck inside the Gazi Tyres factory. It was all he could say before the call disconnected. His family has been unable to contact him since then.

Aman's family looked for him at the factory and some hospitals in Dhaka and Narayanganj. They added his name to the lists whenever the administration, students or the Fire Service were taking stock. But no one has been able to bring Aman back to his mother.

"None of you could bring back my Aman?” the distraught mother says. “I just wanted his skeleton. I haven't even got that. The building has been doused but a fire is burning in my heart," said Rashida Begum.

Asma Khatun, 25, lost three family members in the fire. Her husband Md Sujan Mia, 28, sister-in-law Mafia Begum, 30, and Mafia's husband Md Ratan Mia, 35.

Sujan had a scrap metal shop at Barabo in Rupganj. He went inside the Gazi Tyres factory with many others when the looting began. He got stuck inside when the fire started.

Sujan was the sole breadwinner of the four-member family. After losing her husband, Asma, a homemaker, took a job in a melamine dinnerware factory to provide for her family.

Asma said that they had lived in Dhaka, but moved to Barabo after the coronavirus pandemic. "We were doing well here. It was such a mistake for him to go there [Gazi Tyres factory]. I can't look at my children's faces. They're always crying for their father."

Asma has a 14-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.

“My daughter studies in eighth grade. We need to pay her school fees. For some time, I waited at home thinking their father would eventually return. But no one has been able to provide any information. They just added his name to the list. They couldn't even give us his ashes. What are they doing?"

bdnews24.com spoke to the families of mason Rashed Khan, 40, cement factory worker Abdur Rahman, 30, Jamdani saree factory worker Sajeeb Bhuiyan, 32, day-labourer Majnu Islam, 19, and mosquito net factory worker Rezaul Karim. They all went missing after the fire.

The families said that, even after 20 days had passed, they had yet to receive any information about the missing. Most of them have lost all hope of seeing their loved ones alive.

Rashed's wife Moni Akter was frustrated that her husband had yet to be found.

"They took photos, they took his name, but couldn't bring back the ashes of his burned body," she cried.

220 CLAIMED MISSING

The government has yet to publish a list of the missing people. Nothing has been settled about the human bones and skulls recovered from the debris at the burnt factory.

"We have received multiple lists of people who went missing. As per the information provided by the families, 220 names were listed. However, only 80 families took part in the public hearing," said Additional District Magistrate Hamidur Rahman, who heads the investigation committee formed by the district administration.

“Police and other intelligence forces are scrutinising the names. A final list will be prepared soon."

On Sept 1, the families of the missing defied the law enforcers and entered the burnt factory. They recovered human skulls and bones from the third floor. As directed by the administration, the police eventually collected those skulls and bones. At least 15 pieces of human bodies were found on that day, the additional district magistrate said.

‘RECOVERY MISSION AFTER BUILDING DEMOLISHED’

The fire at the six-storey factory building was put out after an effort of five days by several units of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Huge amounts of chemicals, rubber and plastic-type raw materials used for tyre making were stored inside the factory, which caused a prolonged fire, the Fire Service said.

The severe blaze caused the fourth, fifth and sixth floors to collapse onto the third floor. The administration said that the building was very ‘hazardous’ for a recovery mission.

Additional District Magistrate Hamidur Rahman said the factory building will be demolished by ‘modern equipment’ and then a recovery mission will be conducted inside to find any human remains.

‘ARSON ATTACK, LOOTING CONTINUE’

The Gazi Tyres factory, built on 96 bighas of land, produced all types of tyres used for transport ranging from rickshaws to trucks. Half of the tyre market in Bangladesh was monopolised by Gazi Tyres. It raked in Tk 15 billion per month and produced 7,000 tyres a day.

The factory has become a ruin following the arson attacks on Aug 5 and Aug 25. Each shed, warehouse and building has been damaged.

Smoke billowed from the six-storey building until Sept 12. Although the factory had barbed wire around it, people entered after cutting through it, security staff say. They complained that people were still looting the factory.

Officers in the factory said it lacked security and the looting could not be prevented. The looters set fire to the waste materials dumped at the eastern part of the factory on Sept 6.

They torched a warehouse shed inside the factory the night before that. The Fire Service and Civil Defence went to the scene and put out the fire. On Sept 7, hundreds of people entered the factory and looted machinery and parts.

UNCERTAINTY, LAYOFFS

It is uncertain whether Gazi Tyres will ever resume production. As many as 2,000 workers and staff members have been laid off.

“We planned to turn around and recover after the first attack of vandalism and arson. But after what happened on Aug 25, we’re not sure if we can resume production ever again,” said Executive Director Md Kamruzzaman.

“The attack on the factory was damaging not only for the owners but also for the workers. We were compelled to lay them off. We’re uncertain whether we can pay the wages of those who still have jobs,” he said.

A government initiative is needed under the current circumstances, he said. “This is not just losses for the owner, but also a wider issue of employment. Everybody is facing the losses.”

NO CASE FILED

Though 20 days have passed, a case has yet to be filed over the factory fire. However, the factory authorities said they were preparing to file a case. “We’ll file the case soon,’ said Executive Director Md Kamruzzaman.

Initially, they learnt that the factory was set ablaze at one point during the looting, said Liakat Hossain, chief of Rupganj Police Station. ”The army detained 10 suspects over the incident. Later, they were fined by a mobile court.”

“However, no case has been filed as yet. We’re in touch with the factory owners and they’re preparing to file a case. When the case is filed, we’ll investigate and find those involved in the arson attacks and looting.”