A boy's life in hell
Bappy had felt something magnetic was tugging him when he got on a newly built footbridge to cross a busy highway. As soon as he had fathomed, the 12-year-old became unconscious and when he regained his consciousness, he found him lying on a hospital bed with his whole body in pains as he had sustained severe burns on various parts, especially on his two arms.
That was how he got electrocuted with an exposed high voltage wire in Bhatiary area of Chittagong's Sitakunda upazila nearly four months ago.
But his torment did not end there. The right arm and the left one below the elbow and the big toe of the left leg of the minor had to be amputated as, what the doctors at Chittagong Medical College Hospital said, there was no option but to remove those. The electrocution caused damage to the blood vessel walls and tissues, they added.
The fifth-grader of Bhatiary Government Primary School was describing his ordeal in a recent interview with The Daily Star at the hospital.
On the fateful October 5 last year, the day started and progressed just like every other day. He did not have the slightest inkling that in the middle of the day, he would face the tragic episode in his life.
Through the bridge, “I was returning to my school after taking food at a shop during a break,” he said, the wire was hanging close to it.
“I didn't know there was a wire otherwise, I wouldn't have gone close to the place,” he said.
Devastated Bazlur Rahman, father of the boy, said he was worried how his son will continue with life. “He is my eldest son among three children. I don't know what is our future,” said the man who works as a day labourer to make a living.
“Doctors say my son can continue living normally with artificial limbs which costs Tk 25 lakh but where is the money?” cried the father who has already spent Tk 1.5 lakh by taking loan from individuals, including his relatives.
Still, he has to take his son to the hospital on a regular basis for follow-up treatment. “How can I repay the money? What should I do amid the situation?” said Bazlur, the sole bread earner for his five-member family.
“May no father feel like I do, may no child feel like my child does,” said Bazlur.
Gazi Humayun Kabir, headmaster of the primary school, said, “It is so sad that a bright child is maimed at the beginning of his life.”
Meanwhile, visiting the accident spot, this correspondent came to know from the residents that the electrocution took place before inauguration of the footbridge and there was no cautionary approach.
Zulfiquar Ahmed, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department in Chittagong and also the project manager, however, claimed that they had set bamboos at its entrance so that nobody could get on it.
When asked, Bappy said he had not found such obstruction at that time.
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