Hathras accident follow-up: Grieving, wailing Semra buries its 16 dead
The otherwise sleepy village of Semra, within the limits of Khandoli police station of Agra, was filled with grief and sorrow since Friday night once the bodies of the Hathras accident began coming in
The otherwise sleepy village of Semra, within the limits of Khandoli police station of Agra, was filled with grief and sorrow since Friday night once the bodies of the Hathras accident began coming in. In all, 16 bodies reached the village all through the night and were buried on Saturday amidst wailing next of kin in the village.
The tragedy struck the village on Friday when the loader in which about 35 men, women and children were returning home, collided with a roadways bus near village Metei, under the Chandpa police station of Hathras on Friday evening, leaving 17 dead with one being from Firozabad.
Elders could not remember such an instance when so many were buried in a single day. A bulldozer was called in to dig the graves overnight for burial on Saturday. Those killed were from three families. They had all gone to village Mukandkheda where rites after a recent death took place, and thereafter, they boarded a loader otherwise used to carry goods, to return home to Semra.
Bodies, as they reached after the postmortem examination at Hathras District Hospital, were kept under a makeshift tent raised in one corner of Semra. The most painful part was the bodies of children arriving in the village.
“It is so painful to see the bodies of my nephews whom I used to carry in my arms. They used to play with us and the family used to have pleasant time with these children, who are now lying lifeless,” said Anees, a resident of Semra.
{{/usCountry}}“It is so painful to see the bodies of my nephews whom I used to carry in my arms. They used to play with us and the family used to have pleasant time with these children, who are now lying lifeless,” said Anees, a resident of Semra.
{{/usCountry}}The women of the families were inconsolable and cried all through the night.
{{/usCountry}}The women of the families were inconsolable and cried all through the night.
{{/usCountry}}Houses of Bedaria, Latif, Munna, Chunasi and Noor Mohammad were shrouded in grief. The daughter of Bedaria was married in village Mukandkheda in Hathras and family members and villagers had gone to attend the ‘Çhalisa’ (a Muslim ritual after death) on passing of grandmother-in-law of Bedaria’s daughter in the Hathras village and were returning after attending it and a goods loader was hired for the journey.
{{/usCountry}}Houses of Bedaria, Latif, Munna, Chunasi and Noor Mohammad were shrouded in grief. The daughter of Bedaria was married in village Mukandkheda in Hathras and family members and villagers had gone to attend the ‘Çhalisa’ (a Muslim ritual after death) on passing of grandmother-in-law of Bedaria’s daughter in the Hathras village and were returning after attending it and a goods loader was hired for the journey.
{{/usCountry}}Union minister of state and Agra MP, Prof SP Singh Baghel, cut short his visit to Maharashtra and reached Semra on Saturday and attended the burial in the village.
In list of the 17 killed are Irshad (40), Chotey (42), Munna (39), Muskan (15), Bhola (20), Hamid aka Talli (35), Tabassum (32), Nazma (25), Khushboo (25), Jameel (35), Ayan (2), Sufiyan (1), Shoaib (2), Alfaz (6), Akki (03) and Gulshan (14) all from Semra village in Agra, while Ishrat (50) was from Firozabad.
President of India, Dropadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Yogiaditya Nath had expressed grief over the mishap in Hathras on Friday and condoled the deaths.
The Prime Minister and Chief Minister had on Friday seperately announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each deceased in the mishap in Hathras while those injured would be given Rs. 50,000.
