'Granddaughter was holding my hand, all of a sudden she fell into drain'
“I can't convince myself in any way. Granddaughter was holding my hand. All of a sudden she fell into a drain. I jumped into the drain instantly. My son did too. But we couldn’t protect her.”
Septuagenarian Haji Jamal burst into tear when he was describing how the tragedy unfolded. He then started wailing for her granddaughter Seherin Mahbub Sadia. His tears also touched others in the room. Some of them were also crying and some were sobbing.
Nineteen-year-old Seherin Mahbub Sadia, daughter of expatriate Mohammad Ali, a student of computer science and engineering at International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), fell into a drain in Agrabad area of Chattogram city around 10:00pm on Monday. Her body was recovered around 3:00am on Tuesday. She was buried in Boropole area of the city’s Halishahar area on Tuesday morning.
A university student, Sehrin Mahbub, took her grandfather Haji Jamal to see him an oncologist on Monday. Her uncle Md Zakir Hossain was also accompanying them. They were returning home after buying glasses. At one stage, Seherin Mahbub slipped on the walkway and fell into the adjacent drain. Both Seherin’s grandfather and uncle jumped into the drain instantly but they failed to rescue her. Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel recovered the body later at night.
Seherin would live with her parents in the city’s Boropole. She was the eldest among the four children of Mohammad Ali and his wife Sheli Akter. They live on the first floor of the seven-storied building. Griefs struck the family since Tuesday night. There were sound of wailing and sobbing. The loss of child also touched the neighbours.
Visiting the family on Tuesday morning, relatives and neighbours were seen coming to console the family.
Haji Jamal was sitting in a room. Seherin’s father Mohammad Ali and others were there. Haji Jamal told Prothom Alo, “I never thought even in a dream such a tragedy would happen. I tried so hard to protect her but I couldn’t do anything because of the force of the water.”
He then began wailing again. Hearing him crying, his son Zakir Hossain rushed in from the next room. The son then threw a question to the devastated old man, “Father, why did you take me with you? Why did I have to face such a fate? How will I forget this sorrow?”
The grief of Zakir Hossain over the loss of his nephew has turned into rage to some extent. Angered over the mismanagement in the work of the government’s service agencies, he said everything is being destroyed on the pretext of development. A drain remains open and nobody has a headache about it.
"Had there been a safety net, my nephew would have been protected today," Zakir Hossain lamented.
Father Mohammad Ali said Seherin had a dream to become an entrepreneur after completing her study. And losing his daughter, the father’s dream is also fading away now.
Elderly Haji Jamal also jumped into the drain to save his granddaughter. He was showing the injury marks on his abdomen and legs. He was wailing for Seherin repeatedly. The pain that he endured physically may fade away but will this old man ever be able to recover from the loss of her granddaughter in the rest of his life?
*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna