Bagerhat: Family of Abdul Halim Akond, a Saudi expatriate, were eager to receive him back at his Bunia village, located within Sharankhola upazila in Bagerhat district, as Thursday started.

But in a cruel twist of fate, the extended family in the village was forced to receive five dead bodies instead – of Akond, and four members of his family who had gone all the way to Dhaka welcome him back.

The entire family has been left shell-shocked by the unexpected loss, the result of a fatal road accident that left Abdul Halim, his wife Asma Khatun, their two sons—Sujon, 16 and Shihab, 5, and Halim’s brother-in-law Babul Hawladar dead on Thursday morning.

Apart from Abdul Halim, all four had made the journey to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Bunia to receive Halim and bring him back to the village, for which they had hired a microbus.

Although the receiving Halim part went according to plan, the journey to the village proved fatal, indeed one they wouldn’t even complete.

A speeding, reckless bus driver was enough to bury the family’s hopes, as his vehicle rammed the microbus carrying them at Gerekhola in Kashiani upazila of Gopalganj, leaving the five family members and another person dead on the spot.

Back in Bunia, a pall of gloom descended on the area as news of the deaths reached the village.

‘Though Halim wanted to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with his family, he couldn’t reach here on time. He was returning home after three days of Eid. We all were waiting to share joy of Eid with him,’ said Asma Akter, sister-in-law of Halim, in a tear-soaked voice.

Saidur Rahman Khan, superintendent of Gopalganj Police, said the accident took place around 9:45am when a Dhakabound bus of ‘Sheba Greenline Paribahan’ hit the microbus coming from the opposite direction.

People of Bunia demanded exemplary punishment of those responsible for the accident, said Southkhali Union Council Chairman Md Mozammel Hossein.

Across the country, 16 people were killed in five districts on Thursday in road accidents, a scenario nrepeated almost every year around the Eid holidays.