Hospitals overwhelmed, families in anguish
The wailing sound of the ambulance siren near the hospital was loud and roaring; random pedestrians and street-vendors were clearing the road to allow the approaching ambulances to pass.
Inside the emergency unit of the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery hospital, the frantic search for children, who were critically injured in incident involving the training aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) crashing into the primary school building inside the Milestone College campus at Diabari, Uttara.
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This unfortunate afternoon (July 21), the campus burst into flames, leaving the school children dangerously burned and numerous dead. The cries of the guardians, brothers and sisters asking people if they saw their younger sibling, the frenzy of uncertainties, and the shock of what happened was all that could be heard in the hospital.
An uncle, who had dropped off his niece and nephew, students in the middle and higher sections of the school's kindergarten, was sobbing as he searched for their whereabouts.
"I picked up my kid at 11:00am. My niece and nephew's pick-up time was later. When I heard this news, I ran to the campus and heard that the injured students of classes III and VI were evacuated to the hospital emergency department. I don't know which hospital, and what is the state of the children? My elder brother left for Barishal this morning. Where will I find them now?"
The corridors and the hall of the hospital were full to the brim with worried teachers, seniors from the school and college, guardians. Medical students, attendants of other patients, and Milestone alumni all ready to give blood or medical attention.
A grandmother and uncle were looking for their granddaughter/niece. Finally, they managed to locate someone with a list of the children admitted so far. And in it they found the child was undergoing treatment on the fifth floor.
"The list said one child incurred 100 percent burns; I am petrified," the uncle said.
Another mother was at home cooking lunch for her boy, whom she fondly calls Moni.
"When I heard the news, I ran to the school and saw Moni there with his leg all burnt. I cannot describe how bad it looked. I am here waiting for updates about his treatment," said the sobbing mother.
Meanwhile, the scene at the site of the crash in Uttara was different in the late afternoon. The forces responding to the emergency cordoned off the place. But the ever-inquisitive crowd of Dhaka thronged the site to see the rescue action and take videos. This is a sad reality of any crisis; however, only the sufferers know what anguish truly feels like.
The sirens of the ambulance, the sound of whistles blowing to control onlookers, the tens look on faces of the rescue officers, and the aimless handling of traffic by volunteers, who are mostly Milestone alumni, created an atmosphere that has had a sense of urgency, fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.
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