Lucky, but at what cost?

As rescue operations of the blast at a five-storey building in Dhaka's Gulistan reach the second day, the death toll stands at 19, with scores of others injured. These are the stories of some of the faces behind the jarring numbers.  

Jamal Uddin, a rickshaw van puller, woke up to find himself on a hospital bed at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

His last memory was of him seeing his friend, Idris Mia, being blown away. 

After that, everything went dark.

Jamal had been doing his regular task on Tuesday, transporting goods for a sanitary shop in the capital's Gulistan.

A Faridpur local, he has been living in Dhaka for the past 40 years. But never before had he experienced something like this.

"I thought a bomb had gone off. Then, I remember seeing Idris Mia being lifted off his feet by the explosion. Seeing this, I immediately fainted," he recalled the horrific experience.

He also remembered seeing two passersby lose their lives.

As the murky details trickled back, he said, "I thought the noise came from the Brac Bank office. The roads were gridlocked and there were many severely injured people." 

Jamal, however, is one of many to have the entire scene engraved in their memory.

Another rickshaw van puller, Anwar Hossain, who was present during the explosion, said, "I have never seen anything like this. It looked as though many people were trapped inside the building or under the rubble."

Anwar escaped with minor injuries, but he also lost consciousness for at least ten minutes due to the impact of the blast.

"A van puller among us was killed on the spot. Another died in the hospital. Two roadside vendors also died in the hospital," he recalled.

In the corridors of the DMCH, Jamal Sikder could be counting his lucky stars or thanking his guardian angel. Instead, he is left lamenting the loss of his friends, peers and possibly his livelihood. 

The 35-year-old, an employee of Anika Sanitary in the capital's Gulistan, had just stepped out of the shop he had been working in for the past two years.

He had picked that moment to catch up with some of his friends in front of the shop.

And that's when his world was upended. 

"Within a few minutes, a loud blast shook the building and it felt like everything was crumbling down on us," recalled Jamal, who survived the blast but sustained some injuries. 

The aftermath had also left the Kodomtoli resident unconscious.

News of the explosion also prompted his wife to go look for her husband. 

Sitting on his bed at the DMCH, where he was taken after being rescued by firefighters, Jamal said, "It seemed like there was a massive earthquake, not just an explosion." 

"I am lucky to be back with my family. But my employer is still missing," he said.