Who will marry off Hafsa now?
Pakhi and Hakim Sharif were done choosing a groom for their elder daughter Hafsa.
Pakhi went to her husband Hakim, who works for the Social Marketing Company (SMC), in Dhaka around a week ago with her two-and-a-half-year-old son Nasrullah to shop for the wedding. While in Dhaka, Pakhi also withdrew money from a bank to meet the expenses of the programme.
In a joyous mood, they started their journey back to Barguna on Thursday evening by MV Abhijan-10. Though they usually travel on deck, they rented a staff cabin this time to keep all the things they brought from the capital. The couple was supposed to fix the date of the wedding once returning home on Friday.
But none of this was to see the light of day. In the aftermath of the passenger launch catching fire on
Friday morning, all three members of the family have gone traceless. No one knows what has become of them yet. They may have drowned in the river or burnt to death beyond recognition.
Yesterday morning, Pakhi's mother Farida Begum discovered the charred remains of the clothes her grandson wore, along with the dresses brought for Hafsa's marriage. They were found inside a staff cabin on the ground deck of the launch.
She broke down while talking to this correspondent, holding the burnt clothes of her loved ones. She was accompanied by son Nazrul Islam and son-in-law Shariful Islam.
"We searched for Pakhi, Hakim and Nasrulla everywhere, including hospitals in Jhalakathi and Barishal. But we still can't find them," she said, adding that they're not completely sure if the recovered clothes indeed belong to the family.
Like Farida, the banks of Sugandha river were crowded by many others yesterday morning, all of whom were desperately searching for family members who went missing in the aftermath of the launch fire tragedy.
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