‘Please help me find my father’
"Please rescue my father… he is still stuck in the building …. Please help me find him …"
Samiul Islam, son of Rafiqul Islam, told this to Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam standing in front of Khawaja Tower in Dhaka's Mohakhali area around 10:30pm.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. At least a woman was killed and eight others injured in a fire that broke out at the 14-storey building this evening.
Samiul told this correspondent that his father Rafiqul Islam, 65, worked on the 13th floor as a project coordinator at Saif Powertec Ltd. He completed civil engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
They live in a house in the capital's Mirpur.
Samiul said the last he saw his father was on a video on a TV channel, which was showing how people were standing on the balcony to save themselves from the fire.
"I tried to call him many times but the connection did not go through. The last time we spoke on the phone was around 6:00pm. Father wanted me to send him some water," said a distraught Samiul.
"My father along with six others are trapped there... I lost contact with him about an hour ago," he had earlier told this correspondent around 7:00pm.
Both the mayor and fire service DG told Samiul that there was heavy smoke at the place where his father was last seen and it would take at least 30 minutes to rescue him.
Later, when Rafiqul was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the duty doctor declared him brought dead around 12:15am, said Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH police outpost.
Meanwhile, another woman, Aklima Rahman, 33, a resident of Mohammadpur's Bosila area, remained missing, according to family members.
She worked on the ninth floor at the office of an internet service provider.
Asif, her brother-in-law, said the last time he was able to contact her was around 4:45pm.
"She said she was in danger… and then the call got disconnected after a loud explosion," he told this correspondent around 10:00pm.
Around 12:30am, her body was recovered from the 11th floor of the building, said Banani Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mostafizur Rahman.
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