Muktodesh desk: Ninety-seven days after the training jet crash at Milestone School and College in Dhaka’s Uttara, 13-year-old student Navid Nawaz has finally returned home after a long and miraculous recovery following at least 36 surgeries and 22 days in intensive care unit.
Navid, a class 7 student, was discharged today from the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, where he had been undergoing intensive treatment.
Dr Maruful Islam, joint director of the burn institute, said Navid sustained 45 percent burns in the devastating jet crash on July 21. He was transferred from the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) to the burn institute the following day as his condition deteriorated.
“His condition was extremely critical. We had to tell his family twice to be mentally prepared for the worst,” said Dr Maruful.
Navid spent 22 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) — including 10 days on life support — followed by 35 days in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) and another 40 days in a cabin before finally being declared fit to go home, the hospital sources said.
Over the course of his treatment, Navid underwent 36 surgeries and eight skin grafts, which doctors say is the highest among all the burn victims from that incident.
Professor Nasir Uddin, director of the burn institute, recalled the day Navid was admitted. “He kept pleading, ‘Please save me, will I survive?’ His lungs had filled with fluid due to severe burns, so he had to be placed on life support in a prone position, which was extremely challenging. Seeing him recover and return home smiling is nothing short of a miracle,” he said.
Five other burn victims from the same crash are still being treated at the institute, but are said to be in stable condition. Doctors expect them to be discharged within a week.
Navid’s father, Mizanur Rahman, expressed deep gratitude to the medical team and requested prayers from the nation for his son’s continued recovery and for all those affected by the tragedy.
At least 35 people, mostly students, were killed, and over 150 others were injured after an air force training jet crashed at the school.
