Nepal air crash survivor Mehedi attends funerals of 23 co-passengers in Dhaka

One of the 10 survivors from US-Bangla Airlines plane crash in Nepal, Mehedi Hasan, has attended the Namaz-e-Janaza or funeral prayers of 23 fellow passengers killed in the Mar 12 disaster.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 19 March 2018, 07:16 PM
Updated : 19 March 2018, 07:50 PM

Visibly distraught and still smarting from injuries, Mehedi joined several hundred others at the Army Stadium in Dhaka on Monday to bi the final farewell to the passengers who were less fortunate than him when the plane attempted landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

With a cannula still fixed in his hand and a cervical collar around his neck, Mehedi was taken to the stadium from Dhaka Medical College and Hospital’s burns unit “to say to goodbye to my brother and the baby”.

At least 49 of the 71 people on board the plane died in the crash. Thirty-two passengers and four crew members of the flight were Bangladeshis.

The authorities brought back the 23 bodies on being confirmed about their identity on Monday. Three other bodies are still awaiting identification in Kathmandu.

The 23 bodies were handed to the families after the funeral service at the stadium.

Mehedi, a businessman from Gazipur, was travelling with his wife Saiyada Kamrunnahar Swarna, cousin Faruq Hossain Priok, Priok’s wife Almun Nahar Annie and Priok and Annie’s 3-year-old daughter Priyonmoyee Tamarra.

Priok and Tamarra died in the crash.

Mehedi told reporters that two parts of the plane broke in the crash. He said he saw four to five bodies lying while getting out of the plane through the crack at the front.

A fire engulfed the plane almost within a minute after he got out, Mehedi said.

“I had a front-row seat. I survived because I could open the seatbelt. Other seats had laced into one another at the impact of the crash. The passengers on those seats were burnt as they could not get out,” he recalled.

His father Tofazzal Hossain said Mehedi has suffered a trauma. “The incident keeps coming back to his mind time and again.”

DMCH burns unit coordinator Dr Samanta Lal Sen told bdnews24.com Mehedi was taken back to the hospital from the stadium to complete his treatment.