Rupnagar Cylinder Blast: Grief, despair rack families
Rupnagar cylinder blast has changed the lives of Bishwajit Chandra Das, 13, and Sadikur, 6, forever.
Bishwajit does not know whether he would be able to see again. His eyes were damaged by splinters. And Sadikur lost his right arm and received serious injuries to his left.
Families of other victims have also been devastated.
Bishwajit was taken to National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital yesterday morning with bandages on his eyes.
Doctors operated on his eyes but didn’t tell family members what they could expect.
His mother Jhuma Rani Das, a garment worker, said, “All of my dreams have shattered.”
Jhuma said Bishwajit came to Dhaka from their home in Sunamganj two months ago and worked at a sweatshop.
“My salary is about Tk 9,000 and my son earned Tk 3,500,” said Jhuma, who raised her son alone since she was divorced by her husband years ago.
She came to the capital four years ago and became a machine operator at a garment factory.
“This is a big blow to my life of hardship,” she said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Bishwajit took Tk 100 from her said he would buy a pair of sandals.
He was walking nearby when the cylinder used for inflating balloons exploded near their slum in the capital’s Rupnagar.
A total of seven children were killed in the explosion on road 11. At least 20 others were injured.
Six of the other injured are being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Six-year-old Sadikur, who lost his right arm, probably cannot fathom his loss.
He is being treated at National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation. Lying on his bed at the ICU, he kept staring at his bandaged arms yesterday.
Sadikur took Tk 20 from his day labourer father to buy a balloon.
“After buying the balloon, he gave back his father Tk 15,” his mother Asma Begum said, adding that he went back to the balloon seller with the other children of the area minutes before the explosion.
Asma said she didn’t have the money needed for proper treatment of her son.
ONE MORE DIED
Eight-year-old Nihar Uddin, who was injured in the blast, died at DMCH early yesterday, raising the death toll to seven.
Another boy, who could not be identified on Wednesday, was Rifat, 8, DMCH officials said.
He was the son of Soru Mia of Netrakona’s Mohanganj upazila.
He was admitted to the hospital with severe injuries to his eyes, said Inspector Bachchu Mia of DMCH police outpost.
He was a second grader.
Meanwhile, Sub-inspector of Rupnagar Police Station Sumon Banik filed a case against the balloon seller Abu Sayeed, who is also under treatment at DMCH in police custody.
He lost part of his left arm and sustained injuries to his stomach.
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