Little Farishta fighting for life after bomb kills all her family

KABUL (Pajhwok): A roadside bombing killed 11 members of a family in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province a few days ago and seriously injured the only surviving child girl, Farishta, who is now struggling for life in hospital.

Local residents who found the little girl among the bomb blast victims in Makrana village of Achin district on October 21 named her Farishta, who is one and a half years old.

Watan Khan, father of Farishta, lost his life in a traffic accident in Shahidan Mina area of Rodat district four months ago.

Except Farishta, the entire family perished in the roadside bombing while they were heading from Mamandara village of Achin district to Shahidan Mina area of Rodat district. They were traveling to the area to forgive the driver who killed Watan Khan in the car accident.

In the bombing, Farishta lost her mother, two sisters, four brothers, one sister-in-law, one cousin of his father and two grandchildren of her grand uncle.

Two Afghan Special Force soldiers were wounded when a second bomb went off in the area as the forces tried to evacuate the victims.

After the blast, residents of Mamandara village rushed to the incident site to help the victims, they found only Farishta alive but seriously injuried.

The little girl along and the two injured Special Forces soldiers were taken to the Bagram hospital, but the hospital’s military section, which is run by foreigners, refused to accept the girl for treatment and then the girl was taken to Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital in Kabul.

However, officials at the Sardar Mohammad Khan Hospital also refused to accept the girl for treatment due to her complex injury.

Later, an attendant of Farishta, Shamal Khan who belongs to her village, took her to the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul.

Shamal Khan said the girl was in bad condition on the first day of her injury as she could hardly breathe. “The car in which Farishta and her relatives were traveling has totally destroyed, the bodies of the victims were turned into pieces beyond recognition. Local people collected only their flesh and buried them,” he said.

He added the total treatment cost of Freshta was estimated as 250,000 afghanis and the charity section of FMIC would pay only 95,000 afghanis of the money.

“Farishta’s health is getting better but I don’t know how to find the rest of the money for her treatment,” Shamal Khan said.

Dr. Jamal Naser, a pediatrician in FMIC who is treating the child, said she had been wounded in a horrific way. “She was brought to the hospital in coma at 6:30pm on October 21”.

He said the girl first received respiratory care as she was in great trouble in the area and later they found a crack on her head.

After being put on the life support machine for three days, the girl is now out of the breathing machine and is brought to intensive care unit. Dr. Naser said the child was in 40 percent better condition compared to her first day of injury.

“We are trying our best, she does not have brain hemorrhage, her operation was successful but her mental condition is not normal and we hope her health would get better.”

mds/ma