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Lutfun Nahar Karim Lucky, a senior teacher of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, and her daughter Jannatin Tajri Nikita were out for dinner at the popular biryani joint Kacchi Bhai on Bailey Road in Dhaka on Thursday.
They left behind Lucky’s son at home to prepare for university admission tests scheduled for Friday.
Lucky and Nikita, a student of BRAC University who had studied in Viqarunnisa, were among dozens of people stuck in Green Cozy Cottage, when a fire erupted in the building.
Their bodies were found among the victims, mostly diners and restaurant staffers.
Funeral prayers for the mother-daughter duo were held at Viqarunnisa’s college ground after Juma prayers.
Farzana Khanam, an assistant professor of the college and teacher representative, said Lucky and she had joined the institution at the same time.
“Lucky was a very jolly person. We met only three days ago. I also taught Nikita in college. The news of their death has left me in disbelief.”
The seven-storey Green Cozy Cottage housed several restaurants and shops. The crowds were bigger at Kacchi Bhai as it offered a discount, witnesses said.
The death toll from the fire reached 46 until Friday afternoon. As many as 35 bodies were returned to the families of the victims from Dhaka Medical College Hospital and the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
The 20 survivors were undergoing treatment in a critical condition.