Family members buried Samiul Karim, a seventh-grade student of Milestone School and Collegeโs permanent campus, killed in the plane crash on Monday, at his village home in Barishal on Tuesday.
Samiul’s family complained that they had not received the slightest assistance from the government to bring the body.
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On Tuesday morning, Samiul’s body was brought to his village home from the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka. His funeral was held at the Bir Muktijoddha Mustafa Kamal Secondary School, named after his grandfather, in Chanpur area of Mehendiganj, Barishal, at 10am. He was buried at the family graveyard.
At this time, the villagers broke down in tears. There is now a dead silence in Samiul’s family. His family cannot accept that Samiul is no longer in this world. The same is true for the villagers.
On Monday, his father, Rezaul Karim, went to bring Samiul from school. Suddenly, the plane crashed, and his son was injured in front of his eyes. After that, he was quickly taken to the hospital by helicopter, where the doctor declared Samiul dead.
Samiul was a seventh-grade student at Milestone School. His father is a businessman in Dhaka. His mother, a teacher at Bir Muktijoddha Mostafa Kamal School, lives in Mehendiganj.
The father used to live in Dhaka with his two children for the education of his son and daughter.
As per official estimates, a total of 31 students, teachers and staff were killed in the tragic incident till Tuesday noon. But teachers and students allege that at least 120 were killed on the spot, as 165 others are undergoing treatment at various hospitals.
They have been blaming the Bangladesh Army and the police for concealing bodies.
“Samiul didn’t want to go to school on Monday. He asked his mother to stay home. Samiul got up in the morning and was playing with his childhood toy aeroplanes, taking them down from the showcase, wiping them clean, and playing with them. However, his mother convinced him to attend school. If we had known this, we wouldn’t have sent him to schoolโฆ” said Samiul’s uncle, Syed Monir Hossain, breaking down in tears.
Samiul’s mother, Reshma Karim, has not been drinking water since Monday. Overwhelmed by the grief of losing her only son, Reshma has now lost the strength to cry. Father Rezaul Karim is speechless.
Samiul is the younger of his two children. The eldest daughter got GPA-5 in SSC from the same school.
Rezaul saw his son’s death before his eyes. So whenever that scene flashed before his eyes, he burst into tears and fainted, saying, “Father, fatherโฆand my fatherโฆ”
Rezaul is the owner of a buying house. He lives with his family in Uttara. Despite being busy with office work, he would drop his two children to school every morning and bring them home again in the afternoon.
He stood in front of the gate for a long time on Monday morning after dropping his son off at school. When he saw his son enter the classroom by climbing the stairs on the second floor, he returned home and went to the office.
At around 1pm, he was waiting at the school gate again to take his son home. When school was over, Samiul was walking towards his father with a bag on his shoulder. His father was five feet away from him. At that moment, a burning part of the crashed plane hit Samiul’s back.
Rezaul, shocked, hugged his son to his chest and just cried and said: “Save my son, helpโฆhelp.” The burnt boy was still writhing in his chest. A soldier then took off his clothes and came forward to help him. Rezaul wrapped his son in those clothes and hugged him to his chest.
Shortly after, a military helicopter arrived and took the boy to CMH. After being taken there, he was taken to the operation theatre. After half an hour, someone from inside said: “Sorry, we couldnโt do anything for your son.”
Rezaul broke down in tears repeatedly as he narrated all this. He lamented: “My son was burning. I couldnโt do anything. He passed away before my eyes. Oh my, what pain my son must have gone throughโฆ. How can I live without him? How can I live my whole life watching this scene? I wonโt be able to sleep again; itโs all over.”
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