Chattogram couple loses three daughters in 19 days

One after another of three daughters of cleaners Mithun and Arati passed away in front of the eyes of the couple from Chattogram in a span of just 19 days. The couple’s six-year-old third daughter, Happy Das, was the last to die while undergoing medical care at a hospital on Wednesday. The couple returned to Chattogram from Dhaka with the body of Happy Das. All their efforts went in vain.

This couple’s fight started on 20 June when their four daughters sustained burn injuries at their Budel Sebok Colony residence in Chattogram city. They took their daughters to hospitals in Chattogram and Dhaka. All their efforts ended with the death of Happy.

Mithun’s mother Mala Rani Das was wailing at their home in Budel Sebok Colony on Wednesday afternoon, “How can I live! God, you have snatched three of my granddaughters. Why this punishment? How could this happen?”

Mithun and Arati went to work leaving their four daughters at home. There was a huge explosion inside the room at around 6:30 am on 20 June. Arati’s brother Uttam Das, who lives in an adjacent room, said, “Upon hearing the sound of explosion I came out and saw smoke. Probably the fire started from the explosion. We rescued the four girls and sent them to hospital. Youngest daughter, Sweety, 3, was not so injured. She was given primary treatment only.”

After two days, on 22 June, Sarathi and Happy were sent to Dhaka for better treatment. Their mother accompanied them. From the very beginning the condition of their second daughter, Sakshi, 11, was critical. She breathed her last while undergoing treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) in the morning of 24 June. Sakshi was a class-III student.

Arati was told lies and brought to Chattogram from Dhaka for her to see the daughter one last time. After cremating Sakshi, she returned to her two daughters who were undergoing treatment at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka along with her husband Mithun. They prayed and performed offered puja for the two daughters. But the daughters could not be saved.

Elder daughter Sarathi Das, 15, breathed her last on 30 June. The couple returned to Chattogram with the body, cremated her and returned to Dhaka for the treatment of the third daughter. But Happy Das also passed away on Wednesday morning.

The couple and several relatives started for Chattogram from Dhaka with the body in afternoon. When this correspondent phoned them to know the condition of the third daughter, the siren of the vehicle was heard over mobile phone. Mithun’s brother Anikesh Das received the call. He said, “Three daughters passed away one after the other. How can my brother be all right?”

Anikesh Das was in the hospital on Tuesday. She went to see Happy in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Anikesh said Happy talked to him and asked for juice. He said, “I told her I would buy her juice when she will get well. But Happy passed away today (Wednesday) and the family’s happiness has disappeared.”

* The report was originally published in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza