‘The factory is on fire. We’re trapped. Can’t get out’
When fire broke out inside the Arian Fashion garment factory in Dhaka's Rupnagar this noon, 18-year-old Marzia Sultana Alo managed to make one last phone call to her father.
"The factory is on fire. We're trapped. We can't get out," she said in a trembling voice.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Her father, Md Sultan, tried to calm her down. "Don't panic," he told her. "Follow the others and find a way out."
That was the last time he had heard his daughter's voice.
The phone kept ringing for nearly ten more minutes before it went silent -- and later, it was found switched off. Since then, neither Alo nor her husband Joy, 22, has been found.
Alo and Joy had just joined the factory on October 1. The couple lived in a small tin-roofed room in Mojibor's slum on Road 12 of Rupnagar Residential Area -- 300 yards away from their workplace. Their home district is in Madan upazila of Netrokona.
Alo's mother, Yasmin Begum, told The Daily Star that the young couple had come to Dhaka in search of a better future.
"Joy had worked in a garment factory in Gazipur before their marriage. After they got married, they both joined this one -- Joy as an operator and Alo as a helper on the same floor," she said.
Alo and Joy had a simple wedding ceremony at their Netrokona house in June, two days after Eid-ul-Azha.
"We could see the factory from our home here," the bereaved mother said. "There was a loud bang, and then we heard people shouting that the factory was on fire."
Joy's mother, Sheuly Begum, who also arrived at the site in tears, said, "My son took this job hoping for a better life."
At the scene, Alo's father, Sultan, stood clutching a photograph of his daughter and son-in-law. "I called her when I heard about the fire," he said.
His voice broke as he added, "The phone kept ringing for about ten minutes after I last spoke to her; she never answered again. Then it went dead. I can't find my daughter or son-in-law."
The fire broke out around 11:30am on the third floor of the four-storey Arian Fashion building. Firefighters later recovered 16 bodies from the site.
"The fire is believed to have started in the one-storey tin-shed chemical warehouse and then spread to the garment factory," said Talha Bin Zasim, an officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters' media wing.
Another young worker, 16-year-old Munni Akhter, who lived next door to Alo and worked on the same floor, also went missing. Her husband, Naim, was seen running frantically from one end of the street to another.
Munni's mother-in-law, Tahera Begum, said, "She left for work after breakfast. Later, we heard about the fire."
Munni had married Naim only six months ago. "Naim works at a sweet shop, but his income wasn't enough. So Munni started working at the factory for Tk 7,500 a month. She even managed to send money home," Tahera said.
By 8:15pm, three ambulances from the Fire Service carried 16 bodies to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for post-mortem.
In front of the emergency department, grieving relatives crowded the entrance -- some holding photos of loved ones, others whispering names into the crowd in desperate hope.
Among them was Parvin Begum, holding up a photo of her 14-year-old niece, Asma Akhter.
Asma came to Dhaka from her village in Netrokona's Mohonganj three months ago to live with her aunt. Her parents, Mohammad Nayan and Farida Begum, had sent her to the big city, hoping she could help support their family of eight.
"She worked as a helper on the third floor for Tk 6,500 a month," Parvin said. "With overtime, she earned about Tk 8,000 and sent money home every month. She was the third among six siblings, one of the main earners."
Asma had left for work in the morning as usual. "She was supposed to come home for lunch but never did," Parvin said. "When we heard about the fire, we ran to the factory but couldn't find her."
Clutching Asma's photo, Parvin and other relatives wandered through hospitals and burn units, looking for her name on lists of the injured or dead.
In their village, Asma's parents were informed and are now on their way to Dhaka.
Authorities at Dhaka Medical College said the families of the missing victims will be called to provide DNA samples for identification once testing begins.
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