Benapole Express Fire: Of unanswered calls and missing loved ones

Natasha Jesmin, a teacher of the Academia School in the capital's Wari, boarded a Dhaka-bound train around 7:00pm on Friday after a visit to her home in Faridpur.

After boarding the Benapole Express with her husband, Natasha called her mother, informing her that she was on her way back to Dhaka.

But her mother is still waiting for her daughter.

After the train was set on fire in Dhaka's Golapbagh, Natasha did not make her way back home.

After spending all of Friday night searching for her among charred train carriages and in local hospitals, Natasha's younger sisters, Shahin Nasrin and Khushbu, continued their search at the rail lines throughout the morning yesterday.

There appears to be no trace of Natasha.

"I cannot find my sister. I don't know if she is alive or dead. I request the authorities to quickly conduct DNA tests on the bodies they have found," Shahin told The Daily Star.

There are four charred bodies, yet to be identified, kept at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Natasha's husband, Asif Khan, is hospitalised at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery with severe burns.

At least four people were killed and over a dozen others were injured after arsonists set fire to the Benapole Express train in Dhaka around 9:00pm on Friday.

Natasha's family is not alone. Families of at least three other missing passengers are going through the same ordeal.

Since Friday night, Abdur Rahman has been frantically searching four Dhaka hospitals for his missing son, who was on the ill-fated train.

Despite his efforts, 25-year-old Abu Talha, a third-year mechanical engineering student at Bangladesh Army University of Engineering & Technology in Saidpur, remains missing.

Abdur, the worried father, had bid farewell to his son at Faridpur train station at 7:10pm on Friday. However, by 9:00pm, Abdur was shocked to see the distressing news on TV, and his attempts to reach Talha were met with unanswered calls and a switched-off phone.

He rushed to Dhaka from Rajbari, and has been looking for his son ever since.

The man was holding a photo of Talha close to his chest as he kept looking.

Meanwhile, relatives of 28-year-old Chandrima Chowdhury are desperately searching Dhaka hospitals for her.

Eager for her inaugural train journey and to witness the Padma Bridge, Chandrima embarked on the train from Rajbari on Friday afternoon. Instead of being greeted by her brother Dibakar Chowdhury at Kamalapur Station that night, she remains untraceable.

Having recently completed her post-graduation in pharmacy from a private university, Chandrima lived with her brother in Farmgate.

Yesterday morning,  Dibakar sifted through the morgue at DMC, one of several hospitals where anguished relatives are holding onto hope.

A hope of getting back their missed ones. Or whatever remains of them.

After losing track of his wife, Elina Yasmin, Sajjad Hossain Chapol has tirelessly searched hospital morgues, railway stations, and police stations.

The family, still reeling from Elina's father's recent passing, boarded the train in Rajbari after attending family gatherings.

"I'm not sure where my wife is right now..." said Sajjad.

Dhaka Railway Police Sub-inspector Setafur Rahman said they received missing person reports from three families, of whom,  two could not identify bodies kept at the DMCH morgue as those were burned beyond recognition.

At the national burn institute, doctors said eight passengers who suffered burns remain in a critical condition.