Umm Al Quwain: Colleagues of the victims of Saturday’s deadly Dubai bus crash that killed 13 Asian workers on Saturday have paid emotional tributes.
They said some of the deceased were to return home after years, attend family weddings and see their young children.
The crash changed that forever.
Police said a bus taking them to work on Saturday morning hit a parked truck on Emirates Road (formerly Bypass Road), killing nine Indians and four Bangladeshi workers, mostly welders and metal “fitters” or fabricators.
Some of the co-workers said they have held back the news from the victims’ families. Others said they instead informed them that their loved ones were still in hospital. The colleagues added that they feared the “shock” would be too much for the families to handle.
However, news of the accident has reached India and Bangladesh – where the victims were from – through media and the consulates or embassies of the two countries. Still, according to the colleagues, not all families knew by Sunday afternoon if their loved ones were among the dead or not.
Virtually all of the victims were the only breadwinners supporting their poor families, the co-workers added.
Mohammad Babul, who identified himself as a colleague of one of the Bangladeshi victims, said: “I called his home and his mother asked to verify the tragic news. I couldn’t. I asked her to put his father on the line. He pressed me to speak the truth, saying ‘I can handle it’. I broke down in tears and the phone dropped from his hands. I could hear his mum screaming in the background. His sister later picked up the phone.”
Another Bangladeshi, Nazrul Islam – identified by colleagues as another victim – reportedly died on his last day of work – Saturday. He was to go home after six straight years of toiling in the UAE, said his co-workers.
“Nazrul was going back home and was supposed to get married. He had finished his shopping and had bought gifts for his family. His packed bag is on his bed,” a colleague said.
Meanwhile, crash victim Masum Dali was also preparing to go back home to his “ailing” parents, two brothers and two sisters, said Iqbal, who identified himself as his friend.
“His whole family’s torn apart, his mum won’t stop crying. She fainted when I broke the news to her on the phone. He was the only breadwinner in the family. If he couldn’t send money home, the family couldn’t afford to eat — it’s as simple as that,” said Iqbal before being overcome with grief.
According to workers at their company housing facilities in Umm Al Quwain, Indian cousins Satrudhan Singh and Amlesh Singh also died in the crash. They were also supposed to go back “in a month or two”, the colleagues added.
“Satrudhan was the only son of his parents, who were completely dependent on him. He was very poor, from the Indian state of Bihar,” one worker said.
Meanwhile, four injured survivors are being treated at Dubai’s Rashid Hospital, according to an official of their manpower supply company. Around 10 more injured workers were released from hospital on Saturday.
One worker is said to be in critical condition.
According to the colleagues of those involved in the crash, the survivors made statements to police and court officials in Dubai on Saturday regarding the accident.
Both Pakistani drivers of the bus and truck were taken for questioning by police on Saturday and were still in custody on Sunday.
