Manama: In a rare love story, a Yemeni man overcome with grief over the death of his wife died soon after she was buried.
The woman died last week of an illness. She was 45.
The man, in his 50s, remained by the grave of his wife after the funeral and lapsed into a deep silence, refusing to move from the spot or speak to anyone for nearly two-and-a-half hours, Kuwaiti daily Al Rai reported on Sunday.
Efforts by his relatives to comfort him or to move him away from the grave failed, the daily quoted witnesses as saying.
“Suddenly, and as people were coming to offer their condolences, the man collapsed and, minutes later, he died,” one witness said.
The families promptly arranged for the burial of the man next to his wife.
According to people who knew them, the couple had never been known to have an argument or raise their voices at each other.
“It was a rare love story that bound them together,” one acquaintance said.
One of the couple’s sons swore that he saw tears in his father’s eyes after his death.
A private television channel in Kuwait had earlier this year broadcast a report about an elderly man who had visited his wife’s grave “every single day for more than six years”.
“We lived together in perfect harmony and she was always by my side in good and bad times,” the man, 65, told the TV station. “I miss her so much. I visit her, read verses from the Holy Quran for her soul and talk to her. I pray that I could see her once again to kiss her feet in gratitude for all the good things she has done for me,” he said.
