Ten killed in Cox's Bazar resort fire; survivor Meherunnesa jumped through a window and watched relatives burn from afar

Meherunnesa Mila, who survived a resort fire in Cox's Bazar that killed ten people, is now being treated at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. She and her husband Masud Mia jumped through a broken window to escape the flames; both were seriously injured. Afterwards, from a distance, they watched relatives burn to death inside the resort, unable to help.

The fire broke out on Friday morning at the TupTup resort on Patuayartek beach in Inani. By Sunday, ten bodies had been recovered. Relatives say one person is still missing. Six of the dead were relatives of Meherunnesa, residents of West Nandipara in Khilgaon, Dhaka; relatives say the other four belonged to a single family from Jashore.

Recounting that day, Meherunnesa said she, her husband, and relatives Maliha and Maliha's husband Ashiqur were staying in one room. Early on Saturday, Maliha went to the next room to wake everyone. A little later Meherunnesa smelled smoke and, going to the next room, saw the fire.

She said they could find no way out. She woke her husband Masud and Ashiqur. Maliha, who had gone to wake the others, could not return; fire blocked the way back. They then tried, at first unsuccessfully, to break a window glass at the back.

Meherunnesa said she had given up hope of survival and thought she might never see anyone again before dying. Finally Masud broke the glass with a chair. As she tried to jump first, her hand got stuck in the broken glass; her husband freed it. She then fell onto a hard object and the flesh of her left leg was torn and hanging.

She and Ashiq jumped and were injured. She could not get up from where she fell. People rescued them after about two hours. She crawled some distance into a paddy field. In her words, no one else could get out; she watched her relatives die in the fire from afar.

On Saturday night Meherunnesa and Masud Mia were taken to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical. Masud was released after primary treatment, while Meherunnesa was admitted. She works at Premier Bank's call centre and her husband Masud works at Acme; they live in Uttara.

Doctors at the burn unit say Meherunnesa has minor injuries to both hands but a major injury to her left leg, where flesh has been cut and is hanging, and she will need surgery.

Meanwhile police have sought a seven-day remand for the resort's arrested assistant manager, Zahidul Islam alias Sumon. The investigating officer applied to court on Monday. Inani police outpost in-charge and investigating officer Sub-Inspector Rimon Ghosh said Sumon's seven-day remand was sought for questioning; he was arrested on Saturday evening.

On Saturday night, Ukhia police Sub-Inspector Ashish Sutradhar filed a case. The resort owner Tanvir Ahmed and his business partner Niaz Morshed are among 23 people accused in the case.

The administration has turned to DNA testing to identify the dead and hand over the bodies. On Sunday, DNA samples from seven relatives of the victims were collected at CID headquarters in Dhaka, the investigating officer said. Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital resident medical officer Subaktagin Mahmud Sohel said a DNA report normally takes three to four weeks.

Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Mannan said bodies will be handed over after DNA testing and efforts are under way to obtain reports quickly. The ten recovered bodies are kept in the freezer of Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue; following relatives' applications, the district administration has for now decided not to conduct post-mortems. Everyone now waits for the DNA reports, after which families will receive their loved ones' bodies.