Saved by the wires

A teenager survived a fall from the rooftop of a six-storied building, and an electrical fire on her way down, in a remarkable stroke of luck in the capital on Sunday.

It was just the day after Eid; house help Lamia Akhter, 13, waited in anticipation as her father Md Ripon was on his way from Dakkhin Khan to take her home for a holiday.

She went to the rooftop of the Uttara Sector-7 house in the morning to hang clothes to dry, and leaned over the railing, fascinated by the 'small' cars on the street below.

Her wet hands slipped as she stooped over, and she fell off the roof, Lamia told The Daily Star. 

Luckily, she fell on a mass of electric wires hanging just over the road. The wires broke her fall, but she caught fire due to short-circuit on the lines.

However, as she fell to the ground, the impact doused the fire, saving her life a second term.

Lamia, however, fractured her right leg and got some burns on her skin.

 “Although she caught fire due to falling on the electric wires, this is definitely a blessing as she survived because of it,” Lamia's father said.

Lamia is currently undergoing treatment with six percent burn at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH),  an on-duty doctor of the hospital told The Daily Star.