'If I had reached just 5 minutes earlier, my daughter wouldn't have been burned'

Sharmin Yasmin Suravi was sitting outside the post-operative ward on the fifth floor of the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery today (23 July).

Sharmin was telling The Business Standard how the horror of the air crash unfolded right before her eyes when she went to the Milestone School to pick up her daughter, Sheikh Sayeba Mehejabin, a class-four student now admitted at the institute.

"After school, Sayeba was playing on the swing with other girls. She saw me and called out, but just then there was a loud explosion and fire broke out," Sharmin recalled.

"After the explosion, I couldn't find my daughter. I was running with my younger son Sad in my arms. I saw Sayeba's schoolbag near the swing but couldn't reach it — authorities weren't letting anyone close," Sharmin added.

"My daughter fell into the flames. A man and a teacher poured water on her to extinguish the fire. They were the ones who took her to the hospital," Sharmin continued.

"As I was desperately looking for my daughter, someone called and said Sayeba had been taken to Lubana Hospital. Then they called again and said she was being transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. 

"At that point, I still couldn't find my elder son, who is in class nine at the same institute. I later found out he had finished his exam and gone home."

Sayeba suffered burns on her back with 22% of her body affected, Sharmin told TBS.

Sharmin' family lives at Khalpar in Uttara Turag Thana.

"After being admitted to the hospital, Sayeba asked me, 'Amma, why were you late?' I was five minutes late. If I hadn't been, my daughter would have been fine today," Sharmin said, breaking down in tears.