Orphaned at 4, who will take care of Sowaid now?

"My four-year-old grandson, Sowaid Khan, lies on the hospital bed, crying and searching for his parents. He keeps on asking where are his parents and wants to go to them. What can I tell him? Allah has already taken their mother away," said Rashida Begum, mother of Sharmin Akter, who lost her life in the devastating gas cylinder explosion in Ashulia.

Speaking to The Daily Star on Thursday evening, Rashida Begum broke down in tears and said, "I have been at the hospital since the accident. I can't bear to see my grandson suffer like this. My three-month-old granddaughter, Suraiya, was burned too. I can't even look at her. Who will take care of them? I only pray that Allah keeps them alive."

Sharmin Akter, 25, was the daughter of Abdul Ali Shikdar from Haji Khorshed Akon Kandi village in Palerchar union, Shariatpur district.

Her younger sister, Suma Akter, said Sharmin succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday evening while undergoing treatment in the ICU of the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka.

Before her, Sharmin's husband, Suman Khan, 30, and her sister-in-law, Shiuli Akter, 32, had also passed away. Currently, eight more family members remain hospitalised.

Suma said, "We are four sisters and one brother. Sharmin was the third among us. She got married to Suman about five and a half years ago. Suman was from Bikrampur, Munshiganj. They lived in a rented house in Savar. Suman was a graphic designer and worked from home. Last Eid, my sister visited home, but due to her pregnancy, she couldn't come for over a year. This Eid, she was supposed to come home, but instead, she left us forever."

She said their father, the sole earning member of the family, is a farmer who sustains the household through agriculture. "Our father has been covering the medical expenses of Sharmin, Suman, and their two children. Now, he has to bear the cost of the surviving children's treatment as well. We are struggling to keep up," she said.

Confirming Sharmin's death, Dr Shaon Bin Rahman, a resident surgeon at the burn institute, said, "Forty-two percent of Sharmin's body was burned, including her respiratory tract. She was in the ICU, where she passed away on Wednesday evening."

It was reported that Suman lived on the second floor of the rented house with his wife and two children. On the night of Shab-e-Barat, relatives had gathered at their home. While cooking dinner, a gas leak led to a cylinder explosion, setting the house on fire. Eleven family members, including women and children, suffered severe burns. They were immediately taken to the burn institute for treatment.

Sharmin's body was brought to Shariatpur in the morning. Later, after Zuhr prayers, she was buried in the Majhirhat area of Noshason union in the Sadar upazila.