Rescue volunteer fatally burnt in bid to free parrot trapped in electric wires

Two other members of the animal rescue group Robin Hood were injured in the incident in Keraniganj

A rescue volunteer has died during an attempt to rescue a parrot entangled in electric wires in Dhaka’s Keraniganj.

Two other members of the volunteer organisation Robin Hood were injured in the incident.

Md Atif, 30, passed away in the early hours of Friday at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, according to Inspector Bacchu Mia of Dhaka Medical College Police Outpost.

Atif and driver Shafiqur Rahman, 45, were burnt while another volunteer, Rupok, suffered a mild injury during the rescue attempt in Keraniganj’s Hasnabad.

The volunteers went to the rooftop of a three-storey building to rescue the trapped parrot. Atif tried to tear a thread with a pipe in a bid to extricate the bird, and was electrocuted in the process, said Afzal Khan, chief of Robin Hood. Shafiqur suffered burns as well, he added.

Atif and Shafiqur were admitted to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. Atif suffered burns on 75 percent of his body, while 20 percent of Shafiqur's body was burnt, according to Tariqul Islam, resident physician at the institute.