Relatives of victims of the March 12 US-Bangla plane crash wailing as the bodies are brought back to Dhaka on Monday — AFP Hardly was there a dry eye in Dhaka's army stadium as relatives of 23 victims of the US-Bangla plane crash burst into tears while receiving them dead during a state funeral Monday.
A heart-wrenching scene descended over the big bowl as the mass funeral took place in the afternoon with people from all walks of life, including political leaders and government-high-ups, attending the service.
Maulana Mahmudul Huq, Imam of the central mosque of Dhaka cantonment, conducted the Namaj-e-Janaza after Asr prayers.
"A pall of gloom descended over the area as the freezing vans carrying the coffins drove in the stadium," says an eyewitness account of the formal last ride.
A total of 26 Bangladeshis were among those killed in the plane crash during landing at Tribhuvan airport in Kathmandu. Bodies of three others will be brought back home after identification, officials concerned said.
Home the bodies were brought by a cargo plane of the Bangladesh Air Force that landed at 4:00 pm.
During the last rites at national level, representatives from the President and the Prime Minister paid homage to the victims. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury also paid them respects.
The mortal remains of the ill-fated travelers were then handed over to relatives. Till the writing of the report, relatives of the victims had been taking preparation for burial.
Earlier, Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader, also General Secretary of the ruling Awami League, received the bodies from the airport.
From there the bodies were brought to the army stadium for the funerals.
Though Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was due to attend the event, the plan was changed later, officials of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Air Chief Marshal Abu Esrar and Chief of Bangladesh Navy Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed were among others present.
A BNP delegation, led by senior leaders Hafizuddin Ahmed and Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, paid respects on behalf of the former ruling party.
The Bangladesh embassy in Nepal arranged a funeral service for the victims on its premises yesterday at 8.30 am before a grim sendoff from the tourist city.
The 23 bodies include those of pilot Abid Sultan, co-pilot Prithula Rashid and crew-members Khwaja Hossain Mohammad Shafey and Sharmeen Akter Nabila.
The others are Foysal Ahmed, Bilkis Ara, Begum Hurun Nahar Bilquis Banu, Akhtara Begum, Nazia Afrin Chowdhury, Rokibul Hasan, Hasan Imam, Akhi Moni, Meenhaz Bin Nasir, Faruk Hossain Priok, his two-year-old daughter Tamarra Prionmoyee, Motiur Rahman, SM Mahmudur Rahman, Tahira Tanvin Shahshi Reza, Begum Umme Salma, Nd Nuruz Zaman, Rafiq Zaman, his wife Sanzida Huque and their 6-year-old son Aniruddha Zaman.
Nepalese authorities have yet to identify the bodies of three other Bangladeshis-Alifuzzaman, Pias Roy and Mohammad Nazrul Islam.
Forty-nine people died when a US-Bangla Airlines plane carrying 71 people, including four crew members, crashed on March 12 on "abnormal" landing at the TIA, Kathmandu. This happened to be the third deadliest aviation accident involving an international carrier in Nepal. Two more were reported to have succumbed to their injuries later.
Twenty-two of those on board, including 10 Bangladeshis and 11 Nepalese, survived the crash. Of the total passengers, 33 were Nepalese, 32 Bangladeshis, one Chinese and one from the Maldives.
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