Fresh sepulchres were prepared in Shibchar for those who were not supposed to be buried there.
Twelve new graves were added yesterday afternoon to the Shibchar municipality graveyard in the upazila, situated on the banks of the Padma River.
They were not residents of the region nor did they have any ancestral ties to it.
All that those who were laid to rest had in common was that they were travellers to Dhaka, and had all been aboard the Pinak 6.
The Pinak 6 accident on Monday left tremendous tragedy in its wake. For eleven of the twelve victims and their relatives, closure may never come. Only one person buried at Shibchar yesterday was identified.
Eight-year-old Irene was saved from an anonymous burial because her brother Akram, the sole survivor in his family from the Pinak 6 accident, identified her during the burial.
The others, who were found many kilometres from the accident site, remain unknown.
“Our family— me, our father Dulal, mother Taslima and my sister Irene – was going from our village in Kanchi, Barisal, to our home in Gazipur after celebrating Eid,” said Akram, who is a private car driver by profession.
He said they took seats on the lower deck near the engine. They had piled their bags in front of the driver’s cabin on the upper deck.
“When we were more than a kilometre from Mawa terminal, some water entered the launch from the back. We started praying,” he said.
But the launch kept moving.
“I was sure that nothing bad would happen as I could see the distant bank coming nearer. I went to the upper deck with my sister, Irene, to collect our bags as the launch was supposed to reach the destination within a few minutes.”
But the launch tilted to one side after being hit by two big waves.
“And then we jumped into the water to save our lives. I held her hand and we floated for two or three minutes. But I grew weaker from fighting the strong current.”
Akram’s grip loosened and Irene was lost forever. Speedboat drivers rescued Akram. On the fifth day, Irene’s body was found in the Padma at Munshiganj.
“I identified her by a talisman on her arms and by her clothes. If our mother was alive she wouldn’t have been able to recognize her,” Akram said crying.
When asked why he did not try to take his sister’s body home for burial, he said, “It takes almost half a day to go to our home in Barisal. She is already decomposing.”
“Besides, I have to look for my parents’ bodies. No one is left in our family to search for them.”
After the burial, arranged by the Madaripur district administration and disaster ministry, Akram went to the Mawa side of the Padma River.
“I will come back here tomorrow to see my sister again,” he told the Dhaka Tribune as he left.
