In one of the most tragic scenes of this dengue outbreak, a father had to carry the burden of the dead body of his five-year-old daughter alone. The mother could not bid her daughter the final farewell as she was by the side of their one-year-old younger daughter who is battling dengue in an intensive care unit (ICU).

The mosquito-borne fever has taken a severe toll on the unfortunate parents within the span of just one week. They have lost one daughter and are on the verge of losing another.

The elder daughter, Sayera Akter Sara, died of dengue on Thursday night at the Rashomano Specialised Hospital in Moghbazaar. The family lives in the capital’s Sobhanbagh area. Sara was a kindergarten student.

Safa, the younger daughter, is also suffering from dengue. She is undergoing treatment at the Renaissance Hospital in Dhanmondi. Her condition is said to be critical as her lungs were not functioning properly.

Family members said Sara had been diagnosed with dengue on August 1 while she was in Chandpur, her ancestral home.

She was taken to the Ibn Sina Hospital in Dhanmondi on August 3, but did not get a bed. She was then taken to the Bangladesh Medical College.

But she found no bed there either and finally got admitted to the Northern Medical College. From there, she was transferred to the Rashomano Specialised Hospital on Thursday.

She died at 9:30am at the ICU, said a hospital official.

His father took her dear daughter’s body to Kachiara village in Matlab upazila in Chandpur. She will be buried there in the family graveyard.

With the latest fatality, the official death toll this year has risen to 29, but the unofficial tally puts the number of deaths so far  at 66.