Korail slum fire victim gives birth to stillborn
A victim of yesterday’s Korail slum fire gave birth to a stillborn baby at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) this morning.
The victim, Laboni Akhter, 23, was admitted to DMCH after being rescued from her shanty during the devastating fire, her husband Saiful Alam Munna told The Daily Star.
“She was a garment worker but left her job due to pregnancy. She was in our home with our daughter, Meem, 7, in the slum when the fire broke out,” Munna said.
Laboni was nine months pregnant and was expected to give birth on December 24, he added.
Munna, who is also a garment worker, was at work when the news of the fire reached him around 2:45pm yesterday.
“I rushed there but couldn’t find my wife and daughter anywhere at first amidst the crowd and chaos. Then after searching in the neighborhood, I found them sheltered in a nearby house unaffected by the fire,” Munna said.
“My wife was injured and bleeding as she had to struggle a lot while coming out of the fire affected area due to huge crowd and the rush. She also had our 7-year-old daughter (Meem) in her arms,” said Munna.
Later, Laboni was admitted at DMCH where the doctors said the baby had to be delivered as soon as possible.
They proceeded to provide her with a normal delivery which resulted in a stillbirth.
However, after keeping Laboni under observation for a while, the hospital authority released her this afternoon.
At present, the family faces a uniquely painful situation as the fire has spared them nothing. They have nowhere to go as their house was burnt along with all other belongings they had gathered throughout their ten years of family life and hard work in the garment factories. On top of it, they have just lost their child.
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