The last hug: Mother-daughter found in embrace even after death

The bodies were being piled up, one after another, on a speedboat. Relatives of the deceased were busy identifying them.

But all of a sudden, a heartrending scene caught the attention of almost everyone present there: a toddler was found hugging her mother inside a bag containing their bodies. The mother, too, was holding her girl child tight.

Many were reduced to tears after seeing that.

Mominul Islam, a diver of Bangladesh Coast Guard, said he found one of the two bodies stuck with the upper side of the vessel they were boarding.

Bodies of Bithi Akter, 20, with her one-year-old child Arifa Akter is pictured in image captured after the body bag was opened | Dhaka Tribune“I was struggling to retrieve one of the bodies—but finally found that two corpses were holding each other tight. So, I did not separate them,” said Mominul.

“What gave me goosebumps after all these is that we moved all the  recovered bodies, but the woman and her daughter remained together,” said Mominul while wiping his tears.

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The diver went on to say that he may not forget the mother-daughter duo as they left him utterly shocked.

The woman is Bithi Akter, 20, and while her one-year-old child is Arifa Akter, confirmed the latter’s grandmother Minu Begum, adding that they hailed from Char Masura of Munshiganj.

“They were returning home after seeing a doctor in Narayanganj. Ironically, they could not make it there and will never,” she said.

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Narayanganj Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Nahida Barik said they do not want to witness such a tragedy again.

The two corpses were among 30 bodies retrieved till Monday afternoon after a launch carrying them capsized in the Shitalakkhya River.

Around 7pm on Sunday, the passenger vessel, ML Sabit Al Hasan, sank after colliding with the cargo ship, SKL-3, at the mouth of the Syedpur Koyla Ghat on the Shitalakkhya River in Munshiganj. Police and onlookers said the cargo vessel fled the scene after the collision.