Mirsarai tragedy: The trauma still haunts them

Class topper eighth grader Druba Nath of the Abu Torab High School in Chittagong’s Mirsarai looked all set to fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor.   Ninth grader Abu Sufian Sujan, who secured both the primary and junior secondary scholarships, was well on his way to bagging a “golden A plus” in the Secondary School Certificate Exams.    But providence probably had different plans with Druba, Sufian and 42 other bright kids.   On this very day two year ago, a truck carrying more than 70 people from a football match plunged into a roadside ditch in Mirsarai killing 45, including Druba and Sufian and 42 other schoolboys.   “My son got the fifth grade scholarship in the talent pool. He was preparing for the eighth grade scholarship,” said Dhirendra Kumar Nath, Druba’s father.    “The accident shattered the dreams of our family,” said a tearful Dhirendra.    The story of shattered dreams was all the same for the families of the 43 other school students who were killed in the accident. Ranju Barua’s mother can still not believe that her son is no more.   “He [Ranju] never wanted to wake up for school. Every day I had to literally beat and drag him out of bed. Even today, I went to his bed to wake him up,” she said.   Not just the forlorn families, the trauma is still very much part of the lives of the people of Mirsarai.   Jafrul islam, a local, said every now and then they would be awaken in the middle of the night by the wailing parents of the deceased.    “We might have not lost any of ours in the accident, but a pall of gloom descends on us when we hear them wailing. Our children still cannot accept that their friends were no more,” Jafrul said.   For Abu Torab High School, the loss was immense. Jafar Sadek, head teacher of the school, told the Dhaka Tribune that the school had lost 34 of their students.    Some of them, including Druba, Abu Sufian and Kajal Nath, were very talented and were set to achieve great things, Jafar lamented.   “I cannot hold my tears whenever I remember the face of any of my students even after two years,” he said.    Jafar also said the education secretary, while visiting the area after the accident two years ago, had announced that the school would be turned into a government one.    The promise, however, had never been realised.   Moreover, the plan for setting up a monument in the area in remembrance of the deceased had not be realised either, the head teacher said. “We can pay a little respect to the deceased students by turning the school into a government one and setting up a monument in the area.”   Mirsarai upazila administration chalked out a three-day mourning programme, including holding of condolence meeting, special prayers and placing floral wreaths at the monument set up at the Abu Torab High School premises to mark the second anniversary of the accident.   A Chittagong court on December 08, 2011, sentenced Mofiz Uddin, the driver of the truck, to five years in jail.    The court found out that Mofiz was in fact not a licensed driver and was talking over phone while driving. Some teachers of the school and parents of the deceased students had complained that the punishment was “too little.”