Shamim Ahmed was on board the Pinak 6, which sank in the Padma River on Monday
Shamim and Habiba got married without the permission of their families just two months ago. They were neighbours at Torki Bandar of Gournadi in Barisal. They had fallen in love with each other six years back.
Shamim was returning home on Monday. “There would be an informal bridal reception at Shamim’s village today…I was waiting to go to his home,” said Umme Habiba yesterday.
Shamim Ahmed was on board the Pinak 6, which sank in the Padma River on Monday.
“I am still waiting here…but to receive his body,” Habiba told this correspondent on the bank of the Padma near the Mawa Launch Terminal.
The 26-year-old bride fainted several times.
Her father-in-law and a brother-in-law were trying to console her, but they could not hold back their own tears.
“Shamim got a job at a drug company in Dhaka five months ago and I completed my honours degree. So, we thought it was the right time. I went to Dhaka where Shamim lived and got married,” Habiba said.
The families of Shamim and Habia had not taken the marriage easily. The couple could not also feel good for not including their parents in their new life.
“So, we decided to apologise to them and convince them to arrange a reception,” she said.
Shamim went to his home, leaving Habiba in Dhaka. Their parents pardoned the new couple and asked Shamim to bring Habiba home. Shamim informed Habiba the good news. But an elated Habiba could not wait any longer.
On the day of the launch capsize, she went to the Mawa terminal to meet her husband there and board a launch to go home.
Shamim boarded the Pinak 6 at Kawrakandi to pick Habiba at Mawa and take her home at Torki.
“We last talked before the launch started. I asked him to take the next launch if it was overcrowded as the weather was rough. He asked me not to worry,” she said.
Habiba has since been waiting for Shamim at Mawa.
Hundreds of others, who have been waiting on the bank of the Padma, all have their own similar stories of loss and sorrow. The whole area was an overwhelming mix of wails and silence.
Take Rekha Begum, whose sister, brother-in-law and their two daughters, her brother ans his wife and son were all on board the sunken Pinak 6. Rekha has lost the sense of reality at the death of the seven relatives.
“They had come to our village home at Satrashi in Sadar upazila of Faridpur on Eid. They were headed to Dhaka.
We saw them off around 7am,” Rekha said.
“TV channels were telecasting breaking news that a launch capsized here. Tensed, we rang all six cell phones with them, but the phones could not be reached,” she said.
Rekha and her relatives rushed to Mawa from Faridpur yesterday evening.
Source: bdnews24
