Survivor Annie returns home, learns about her husband, daughter’s death

It has come as a double blow for Almun Nahar Annie when the relatives have finally told her about the deaths of her husband Faruq Hossain Priok and daughter Prionmoyee Tamarra in the US-Bangla plane accident which she survived at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal.

Annie is one of the 10 Bangladeshi survivors of the US-Bangla Airlines and was under treatment in Nepal and Dhaka until Monday.

At the hospital, to avoid further shock, relatives told Annie that her husband and daughter were sent to Singapore for better treatment.

Hearing about the deaths of Priok and Tamarra, she broke into tears.

“We were lost for words to console her,” said Mostafa Kamal Sujon, one of Priok’s friends.

The bodies of Priok, 32, and 3-year-old Tamarra were brought back to Dhaka from Kathmandu along with 21 others on Monday afternoon.

Priok, a photographer from Gazipur, Annie, 25, and Tamarra were travelling to Nepal along with Priok’s cousin Mehedi Hasan and Mehedi’s wife Saiyada Kamrunnahar Swarna on Mar 12.

Priok and Tamarra died along with 47 others when the plane crashed near the runway of Tribhuvan International Airport.

Annie, Mehedi and Swarna are among the 10 Bangladeshi survivors of the crash. Out of the 36 Bangladeshi victims including crew members, 26 died.

The three were brought back to Bangladesh and admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s burns unit.

Annie had not been told about the deaths of her husband and daughter as her relatives thought it might be too much of a shock for her to bear as she is in a serious condition.

Her relatives took her home from the hospital on Monday before the bodies arrived from Nepal.

The DMCH burns unit coordinator Samanta Lal Sen told bdnews24.com they released her as the relatives wanted her to be informed about the deaths of Priok and Tamarra after taking her home.

When she was brought back from Nepal on Friday, the doctors said she had pain in her right ankle due to a ligament injury, but she did not suffer any fracture.

Mehedi’s father Tofazzal Hossain told bdnews24.com Annie was taken to their home in Gazipur’s Sripur on Monday morning.

Izaz Ahmed Milon, another of Priok’s friends who travelled to Nepal after the crash, said he heard the experiences of the survivors in Kathmandu.

According to them, Priok sat on the left side of the plane with Tamarra while Annie on the right side.

Mehedi, Swarna and Annie left the plane after the crash, thinking that Priok would follow them with Tamarra, said Izaz.

Quoting Annie, he said, “Priok told her to leave the plane quickly by any means. Annie thought Priok would also leave the plane.”

But Priok could not as the plane caught fire when it crashed.