Lankan critically injured in Dhaka hotel blast

Saad HAMMADI in Dhaka

BANGLADESH: More than 50 people including three foreign nationals were injured in an explosion that occurred on Sunday at the sixth and seventh floor of Hotel Orchard Plaza in Bangladesh’s capital city Dhaka.

Sri Lankan national A.R. Samanthilake, 43 is the most critically injured among those affected in the explosion. Chances of his survival are limited, as doctors have identified 95 per cent of his body has been burnt in the explosion.

Samanthilake, a senior manager of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon arrived at Dhaka on May 30 to audit the bank’s branches in Bangladesh. He was accompanied by another two Sri Lankan officials who too were lodged at the hotel but are safe.

After dinner with his colleagues, Samanthilake went to his room number 602. “Although not much detail was available from Samanthilake because of his critical condition, he was in the washroom when the explosion took place,” says a high official of the bank.

Samanthilake is at the high defensive unit of the City Hospital in Dhaka under Dr Shahidul Bari, a plastic and cosmetic surgeon. Sri Lankan ambassador V Krishnamoorthy visited Samanthilake at 10:15 a.m. yesterday. “We are planning to move him to Singapore for better treatment within next 24 hours,” says a high official of Commercial Bank of Ceylon.

“It is a flame burn and practically there is little chance of his survival with the extent of his burns,” says Dr Nazmul Ahsan, the duty doctor at the unit.

At 8:30 p.m. when the first explosion took place, victims reported that no electricity was available. A second explosion occurred at around 11:15 p.m. leaving the fire service and civil defence clueless about how the incident occurred. Many are speculating the possibility of a bomb explosion. Both the injured were reportedly found at the washroom of sixth and seventh floor.

Twenty-two year old Milon, a housekeeper of the hotel counts his last days at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, as 98 per cent of his body has been burnt.

“Face and chest burn together damage the respiratory system and therefore, there is little we can do for his survival,” says Raju, a senior staff nurse at the medical college hospital’s burns unit. The same applies to Samanthilake who has been severely injured and was moved to the City Hospital from the medical college.

All three patients admitted at the burn unit of the DMCH were rushed to the hospital at around 12:15 in the midnight. However, except for Samanthilake, the two other Indian nationals remain safe with first aid medication.

‘I went to help one of the boarders check out from his room number 702 when the electricity failed. As I entered the room carrying a candle, I felt smoke inside. When I opened the washroom, the explosion occurred,’ says Milon, who is in his deathbed according to hospital attendants.

Military forces, law enforcers, fire service authorities, put the entire road of Naya Paltan in Dhaka city off limit to traffic immediately after the incident. Rescue operations continued until the wee hours of night. More than 50 people have been admitted to different hospitals in the Dhaka city.

Kadhiresan and Srinivasan are two Indian nationals who were on separate business trips to Dhaka.