Law and order: Horror at Teen Hatti

The injuries were caused when the gas cylinder of a burning bus burst at Teen Hatti near Pir Illahi Buksh Colony.

KARACHI: Cries of pain and anguish pierced the ears of relatives, hospital staff and others present at the Burns Centre of Civil Hospital, Karachi (CHK) as 14 injured men, two in critical condition, were being attended on Saturday afternoon.

The injuries were caused when the gas cylinder of a burning bus burst at Teen Hatti near Pir Illahi Buksh (PIB) Colony. The bus had been set on fire in protest against the killing of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement worker.

One of the critical patients, with 40 per cent burns and inhalation injury, is Express News cameraman Imran Ali. “He is definitely in critical condition,” said Dabirur Rehman, the executive director of the Friends of the Burns Centre. “The damage to his body is substantial. His back is burned as is the nape of his neck and the back of his head. His face also has partial burns.”

Twenty-seven-year-old Ali was on site capturing the bus on fire when the cylinder burst and the flames enveloped his body. In unbearable pain, he lay bandaged almost head to toe in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at CHK, attempting to smile at all those who came to visit and check on him. As his visitors slowly filed out of the room  to allow him some rest, he would request as bravely as he could, “Do pray for me.”

Burns Centre chief and assistant professor at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Dr Ahmer said that while Imran was badly burnt his chances were “good”. The main problem, he pointed out, however, was the inhalation injury, which often proves fatal in such cases. Possible complications include pulmonary edema, lung infection, complication in the diffusion of gases and problems with the respiratory tract.

Meanwhile, the staff in the general ward was busy attending to others injured in the explosion. The patients, most of who lived nearby, were between 14 and 45 years of age. The youngest patient, Usama Younus, lives in the nearby Martin Quarters. On hearing about the fire, he dropped off the chickpea cart he was supervising for his father and went with some friends to take a look. He got 19 per cent burnt. “My son left without breakfast today,” cried his mother Yasmeen, blaming herself for letting her youngest of six children go near the fire. “He never takes his medicine, even when he is sick. He says he will brave it.” She was in anguish to see him being given injections and hooked up to a drip. In fact, Usama had to be held down by ward attendants as the cannula was inserted. Lying two beds to his right was 35-year-old Abdul Raheem who owns a pakwaan or deli in Martin Quarters, where he lives. “I can’t bear this any more,” he pleaded to a friend standing beside him as he rolled from side to side in the hope that the burning sensation would ease. “Please put me inside an air-conditioned room.” Doctor’s diagnosed him with borderline 25 per cent burns. His clothes were stripped and replaced with bandages and he was perhaps the only patient given a urinal catheter. “The prognosis for any patient with burns higher than 25 or 30 per cent is not good,” said a doctor.

To Raheem’s left lay 38-year-old Moazzam Mir who had been just passing by. Boils had erupted on his neck and were making him itch. His sister Shagufta kept fanning him in a desperate attempt to cool him down. “The attendants did give him some injection to ease the pain but that was two hours ago,” she said. “It’s difficult to see him in such pain. I can barely imagine what he is going through.”

On another bed lay 20-year-old Anees, who suffered 66 per cent burns. “His chances of survival are slim but the next 15 to 20 days are crucial and doctors will know more then,” said Dr Ahmer.

“This is going to be one tough night for us all,” sighed ward administrator Tariq Hafeez. They were nearly full to capacity and while he said he understood how worried relatives were, they needed to give staff room to manoeuvre, especially in such emergencies.

“It takes four to five days for the symptoms to surface in a burns patient,” Dabirur Rehman explained, adding symptoms include swelling of the face and body and possible damage of the wind and food pipes. Burns higher than 25 per cent can also dry up water in the body, causing further complications. Patients with burns also need to be treated with extra care as chances of infections are significantly high as the body’s “defence sheet or skin” has been lost. Elsewhere, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital admitted 10 burns patients from the explosion.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2011.