Seven-month-old Faiza Rahman came to the hospital with her mother to give DNA samples to identify her father. Abdus Sobhan, coordinator of the ICT office in the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram, went missing after the explosion at the container depot. Faiza is his daughter.
Abdus Sobhan went to the spot after receiving the news of a fire at the depot. He was showing the horror of the fire to his wife Ispahan Sultana over a video call. His wife then told him to move away from the fire. She warned him that anything may occur at any time.
Merely five minutes after that, she heard a loud noise and the screen of her mobile went blank. Abdus Sobhan has been missing since then.
This correspondent spoke to Ispahan at the gate of the Chattogram Medical College. She was slumped in a chair, exhausted and crying. She said, “I told him to move away, but he didn’t.”
All the members of the family went from one hospital to another in search of Abdus Sobhan, but all in vain. Sitting next to Ispahan was Rayhan Uddin, Abdus Sobhan’s brother. He too will give DNA samples. Samples of two members from each family will be collected for DNA testing.
Sobhan has been working at the depot since 2013. He is from the Shekherkhil area in Banshkhali upazila. He married Ispahan two and a half years ago.
His brother said, “My brother already had returned to the depot quarters after office on Saturday. But he came back to the depot after hearing about the fire. He went missing after 11.30pm.”
The relatives are waiting for the DNA results now in their search for Abdus Sobhan.