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Published : 20 May 2026, 05:47 PM
In the courtyard of a quiet homestead in Rangunia’s Bandar Raja Para, four wooden cots stood side by side, each holding the lifeless body of a brother.
The sea of grief-stricken people surged toward the home, everyone desperate to catch one final glimpse of the four siblings who had left for foreign shores to build a future, only to return together in shrouds.
The two youngest brothers were supposed to return home to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their family. Preparations were already under way for their weddings after the festival.
Instead of two brothers arriving with bags packed for celebration, all four returned in the freezing hold of an ambulance on Wednesday morning.
The bodies of the Oman expatriates -- Rashedul Islam, Sahedul Islam, Mohammad Siraj, and Mohammad Shahid -- reached their ancestral home in Lalanagar Union after arriving at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday.
The grief, however, spilled far beyond the Upazila, people travelled from across north Chattogram -- including Raozan, Fatikchhari, Boalkhali, Hathazari, and Sitakunda -- to stand in solidarity with the shattered family.
The air hung heavy with the agonising wails of relatives.
For the past week, the family had desperately hidden the truth from their mother, Khadija Begum, fearing what toll the shock would take on her.
But on Wednesday morning, she was informed.
The elderly mother began fainting repeatedly.
"The truth that was kept from Khadija for the last week could no longer be hidden today," Kazi Mansur Ahmed, a local resident and physician present at the scene, said.
"She is now completely bedridden."
At around 10:30am, the four coffins were carried to the playground of Lalanagar High School for the funeral prayers.
Thousands joined the final procession, packing the school ground to its absolute capacity.
The funeral prayers at 11am were led by Mohammad Enam, Khadija’s only surviving son.
Enam, devastated by the sudden loss of his four brothers, broke down in uncontrollable tears during the concluding supplications.
"The people of Rangunia have never witnessed a tragedy of this magnitude," said Shafiqul Islam, who travelled from Mariamnagar to attend the funeral.
"The entire region is in mourning. Thousands have gathered here just to offer their prayers and stand by this family."
Local political leaders, administration officials, police personnel, and citizens from all walks of life stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the rows of the Janaza.
Following the prayers, the four brothers were laid to rest side by side in their family graveyard, around 275m from their home.
Among the brothers, Siraj and Shahid were unmarried and had booked their tickets to return to Bangladesh on May 15.
On May 13, all four brothers set off together in a car from Barka of Oman towards Muladdah to shop for their upcoming journey home.
The journey took a terrifying turn after 8pm when one of the brothers sent a frantic voice message to a relative, saying they were all falling severely ill.
Sending their live location, he gasped that they no longer even had the strength to open the car doors and step out.
Local residents later spotted the vehicle parked outside a clinic, with four unconscious men slumped inside, and alerted the local authorities.
Responders forced open the vehicle's doors, only to find all four dead.
According to Oman investigators, the engine had been left running, and the four brothers are believed to have suffocated after inhaling lethal amounts of carbon monoxide gas leaking into the vehicle's cabin from the exhaust system.
