KHULNA, Mar 13: A newlywed couple who had vowed to spend their lives together were tragically separated in death in the devastating road accident widely referred to as the 'Rampal Tragedy'.
Bride Marzia Akter Mitu was laid to rest at Naksha Village in Koyra Upazila of Khulna, while her husband Ahadur Rahman Sabbir was buried at Sholobunia Village in Mongla Upazila of Bagerhat.
Following Thursday afternoon's tragic road accident in Rampal that claimed 14 lives, authorities handed over the bodies to relatives without autopsy upon family request later that night.
Three bodies, including that of newlywed Mitu, were taken to Naksha Village in Koyra where they were buried Friday morning. Mitu's grandmother Anowara Begum's body was sent to her village for burial.
Meanwhile, the bodies of Sabbir and other victims were taken to Mongla where they were buried after Jumma prayers.
Earlier Friday morning, funeral prayers for Mitu, her sister Lamia and grandmother Rashida Begum were held around 9:30 am on Friday at a field beside their house in Naksha Village. Later, they were laid to rest at the family graveyard.
The tragic incident has cast a pall of gloom over the village since Thursday.
Locals said the bodies of Rashida Begum, Mitu and Lamia were brought to their ancestral home in Naksha Village where relatives and villagers gathered in large numbers to offer their last respects.
Family members were seen overwhelmed with grief. Mitu's father Abdus Salam Morol reportedly fainted several times, while mourners broke down in tears.
According to family sources, Mitu, daughter of Abdus Salam Morol of Naksha Village in Koyra Upazila, married Ahadur Rahman Sabbir, the younger son of Mongla Municipality's Ward No-8 BNP President Abdur Razzak, on Wednesday night.
After the wedding, members of both families were returning in a microbus with the bride and groom when the vehicle collided head-on with an oncoming bus at Belai Bridge area in Rampal, leaving 14 people, including the microbus driver, dead on the spot.
Khulna-6 constituency lawmaker Maulana Abul Kalam Azad expressed deep sorrow over the incident and demanded a proper investigation into the accident while praying for the eternal peace of the deceased.
