“Baba, am I not going to survive?”

Ten-year-old Jannatul, a fourth-grade student of Milestone School and College, sustained burns on about 15% of her body—including both hands and part of her back—after the tragic crash of a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft on the school campus in Diabari, Uttara. She has been admitted to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

After receiving initial treatment, Jannatul was being moved to the fifth-floor CCU via elevator. As the lift ascended from the ground floor, she looked at her father and kept repeating in agony "My hands are burning so badly, it hurts so much, Baba. I can’t breathe. Baba, am I not going to survive? If you take me to the doctor, will you stay beside me?"

Trying to comfort his daughter, her father, Zahid Ahmed, replied through tears "Nothing will happen to you. I’ll be right there with you—wherever you are, I’ll be there too. Wherever you go, I’ll go with you."

Jannatul’s family lives in Diabari, Uttara. Their ancestral home is in Kamalakannda, Netrokona.