What was meant to be a joyful homecoming turned into an unimaginable tragedy for Oman expatriate Bahar Uddin, as seven members of his family, including two young children, lost their lives in a devastating road accident in Noakhali on Wednesday.
The family, residents of Choupalli village in Sadar upazila of Laxmipur, had set off in a microbus from Dhaka after receiving Bahar from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, where he had just returned following years of work abroad. But the celebration never came.
On their way back home in Laxmipur, the microbus veered off the road and plunged into a roadside canal, killing seven of the passengers instantly. Bahar was being accompanied by 12 family members.
The fatal accident occurred around 5:40am, when the microbus lost control and fell into the canal at Chandraganj Dakshin Bazar in Begumganj upazila of Noakhali district, said officer-in-charge (OC) of Chandraganj Highway Police Station Md Mobarak Hossain Bhuiyan.
The deceased were identified as Bahar’s mother Morshida Begum, 50, his wife Kabita, 22, his two-year-old daughter Mim Akter, maternal grandmother Faizunnessa, 60, sister-in-law Laboni Akter, 25, (wife of Bahar’s elder brother), and Laboni’s two daughters, Lamia, 8, and Reshma, 9.
