Nirakar Pandey of Birtamode, Jhapa died after a massive fire at a casino hotel complex in western Cambodia Wednesday midnight.
Pandey, 40, died after he jumped from the 12th floor to save his life as the fire spread upward to his floor with no hope of rescue.
His family members including elder brother Niraj Pandey had video conversation with Nirakar for over four hours after he was trapped in the building.
Nirakar had gone to Thailand on November 7 after marriage of their youngest brother Nirajan, according to Niraj. He had gone to Cambodia from Thailand on vacation.
Niraj told Setopati that he his wife and mom reached Sukedhara where Nirakar’s wife and son are staying at around 11 Wednesday night after learning that Nirakar was trapped in the fire. He revealed that the family members continuously talked with Nirakar after that constantly consoling him that he will be rescued.
“We talked with him from midnight till 4:26 in the morning. We asked him to block smoke by putting clothes below the door and consoled him saying he will be rescued as it is a tourist hub. But that sadly didn’t happen.”
Nirakar showed the view of the ground from the 12th floor of the hotel casino complex and crowd of security persons and commoners could be seen. Niraj told Setopati that the fire engines could not spray water above the third floor.
Niraj is sad that Nirakar could not be rescued even four hours after the fire started. He claimed that the building had caught fire even in 2019. Nirakar had initially hoped that the fire would soon be controlled and, therefore, told his family that he was trapped only one and a half hours after the fire started.
Nirakar was saying that he was trying his best to stop the smoke from getting into the room and waited for his rescue. He later gave up seeing no chances of rescue and started to talk with disappointment.
“He sent video clips asking me to love his family and care for the family. I also sent video clips from the wedding of the youngest brother when the whole family was together to lift his spirits. But those video clips were never seen.”
Nirakar finally jumped from the 12th floor to save his life.
Niraj has found a photograph of Nirakar published in the Cambodian media. “There is his photo at the windows of the hotel with a bag on the back, a torchlight in one hand and a mobile phone on the other,” Niraj said. “We had heard of coffins arriving from abroad. Such incident has befallen our family.”
The words of Nirakar in the final hours are still playing in Niraj’s head. “Do care for our mother, family. Take care of my small son.”
Nirakar sent a video message to his son Arman Subha Pandey in the final hours. The family has provided the video recording to Setopati. Sirens can be heard blaring downstairs in the recording while his room is gradually engulfed in smoke.
“Sanu (little one), the apple of my eye, I love you very much. Papa always loves you,” he tells his son. “The biggest thing is you have to be a good human being son! You should not cheat or fraud anyone.”
