Abu Dhabi: A family that boasts it has the oldest people in a Bangladeshi village is mourning a “sudden death” in their family following last week’s crash in Al Ain.
Wasir Ali, 40, who worked as a decorator with Al Hakim company in Al Ain for five years, was one of the 19 Bangladeshis who died in last week’s horrific crash. The family is in shock.
Ali’s 105-year old father, Hazi Wahab Ali, and paternal uncle (Wahab Ali’s elder brother Yaqoob Ali believed to be 115 years old) are the oldest people in their village.
“We boast of having the oldest people in our [village] but now we don’t know how to face the death of one of the youngest uncles in the family,” Jamil Hussain, 24, the nephew of the deceased, told Gulf News on Sunday.
The family belongs to Gollashangonj village in Moulvi Bazar district in Sylhet division.
Hussain, who works a pipefitter in Al Ain, will accompany his uncle’s body on Tuesday night on a Biman Airline flight from Abu Dhabi to Sylhet.
He said it was the third time the family had faced an untimely death in recent years. Wasir Ali’s two sisters also died due to illness in their 40s. But all his five older brothers and two younger brothers lead healthy lives. Three of them working in Saudi Arabia, one in London and three in the village.
He said his grandfather, Hazi Wahab Ali, 105, and his brother Yaqoob Ali, 115, are perfectly healthy and walk around the village. “They had a friend in the same age group but he also died recently. So our family has the privilege of having the oldest people. But the same family finds it hard to come to terms with our dear uncle’s death — he was dear to every one,” Hussain said.
He said the family does not know the exact age of his grandfather’s brother, Yaqoob Ali. “He and others estimate that he is more than 115 years old; some say it could be 120. Anyway he is leading a happy life.”
“But God did not give that privilege to my two aunts earlier and now to my uncle. Anyway it is not in our control; we have to accept God’s will however hard it is,” Hussain said.
The deceased, Ali, is also survived by his 30-year-old widow, two sons and a daughter, 11, nine and five years old respectively, and his mother, the nephew said.
He said Ali was earning around Dh1,500 a month including overtime pay and he was sending the money home every month. “Now his wife and three children will have a tough time as we others in the family are not rich but struggling to meet both ends meet,” Hussain said.
He said he will miss his uncle’s support very much. “He was living near my labour accommodation in Al Ain and I used to meet him often. Whenever I had any problem I rushed to him; he would listen and suggest an immediate solution.”
Hussain said his uncle was always pleasant and had many friends.
“When I come back after his funeral back home, I don’t know where to go when I have a problem,” he said.
