Two brothers from Lakshmipur, Faez Ahmed Sajib, 29, and Farhad Hossain Sujon, 21, went to Saudi Arabia in search of a living, hoping to bring a smile to their family. That dream of working abroad ended in a road crash. After they lost their lives in Dammam, the two brothers finally returned in two coffins. The whole village was left numb with grief as they were buried together.
Their funeral prayers were held at about 10am on Tuesday at the Kamarhat mosque ground next to their home in Ganipur village in Chandraganj upazila, Lakshmipur. The brothers were later buried side by side in the family graveyard. The weeping of relatives, local residents and well-wishers at the final farewell filled the area.
The dead were Sajib and Sujon, two sons of Abdul Malek of Khalifar Bari in Ganipur village in Chandraganj upazila. The elder brother, Sajib, had run a date business in Dammam in Saudi Arabia for a long time. Early this year he took his younger brother, Sujon, to Saudi Arabia to help him with the work.
The family said that on the night of 15 July, as they were returning from an orchard in a pickup loaded with dates, their vehicle lost control and struck a truck-lorry parked at the side of the road. Both brothers died at the scene.
In tears, the brothers’ father, Abdul Malek, said: “I took a loan to send my two sons to Saudi Arabia. I thought they would work hard, end the family’s hardship and repay the debt. But that debt has still not been repaid. My two sons are no more. I never even imagined this would happen.”
After a long legal process, their bodies reached the village home on Monday night. Hundreds of people gathered for a last glimpse of them. People of all walks of life, public representatives, local dignitaries and a large number of worshippers took part in the funeral prayers on Tuesday.
Sajib leaves a wife and a two-year-old son. Having lost the family’s two main earners, the family is now in deep uncertainty.
Local people said Sajib and Sujon were extremely courteous, hard-working and well liked. Their untimely deaths have brought grief not only to one family but to the whole of Ganipur village. After the funeral prayers, relatives and residents bade the brothers farewell with tears in their eyes.
The upazila nirbahi officer of Chandraganj, Nilufa Yasmin Nipa, said: “Such a tragic death of two brothers together is deeply heartbreaking. I offer my profound condolences to the bereaved family.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report