Nazia Ahmed (32) had taken her two children – seven-year-old Arhan Ahmed and three-year-old Abiyat Ahmed – to a restaurant in the building where they were killed in the fire. City College student Nusrat Jahan phoned her father when she was trapped in the building, calling out, “Abbu, fire! Save us!” Those were her past words. Her father Abdul Quddus called her tirelessly after that, to no avail. He went to Bailey Road and then to the Dhaka Medical morgue only to find her lifeless body. He cried out in grief, “I couldn't save you!”
President Md Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have expressed deep grief at the deaths in the Bailey Road fire. Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and leaders of other political parties and organizations have expressed their sorrow. News of the deaths in the Dhaka fire has been highlighted by various international media including BBC, CNN, the New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters, AFP, AP and Al-Jazeera.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at a press briefing yesterday (Friday) said that Anwarul Huq and Shafiqur Rahman, two owners of Chumuk, an eatery in the building, and Zainuddin Zishan, the manager of another eatery there, Kachchi Bhai, had been detained. . The police will file a case concerning death due to negligence in this incident.
Meanwhile, visiting the site on Friday, the home ministry's security services division secretary Abdullah Al Masud Chowdhury said, “We (fire service) have formed an inquiry committee. We want to see if there was any discrepancy on the part of anyone.”