‘Hero’ Nayeem wants to be police officer

Staff Correspondent: A boy, Nayeem Islam, sat on a leak in a Fire Service hosepipe to ensure that water flowed normally during the fire at Banani’s FR Tower on Thursday.

A photo of him sitting on the hose went viral on social media, and has drawn him a lot of attention and praise.

On Friday Nayeem, while speaking to the reporter, pointed at a police officer next to him and said: “I want to become a police official like him, to help the people of the country, when I grow up.”

He is a fifth grader at the Korail slum Boubazar School and the son of Ruhul Amin of the area. His father is a street vendor and his mother works as a household helper. Nayeem also has a younger sister.

Nayeem said: “I heard about the fire and went there with my friends. Behind the building I saw a water pipe was leaking, therefore I used my hands to try to ensure the water flowed as normally as possible.

“Later a person gave me a polythene bag to wrap around the pipe, which proved to be more helpful.”



When he told about his picture being on social media websites, and people praising him for what he did, the little boy blushed and said: “Yes I am aware of that.”

On Thursday, a deadly fire broke out at high-rise FR Tower, on Banani’s Kemal Ataturk Avenue around on Friday noon, killing at least 25 people and injuring 70.

Twenty-five Fire Service units—along with members of Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Air Force, police, Rapid Action Battalion, members of Red Crescent, trained professionals, and hundreds of university students—took part in the rescue operation.

The fire was brought under control around 7:00pm on Thursday.

risingbd/Dhaka/March 29, 2019/Nur/AKA