Twelve people from Sundarpur village in Sarlahi district who died in Thursday’s road accident in Chisapanigadhi, Bhimphedi Rural Municipality-6 of Makawanpur, were cremated together on the banks of the nearby Lakhandeha river late Friday night.
They were among those returning home from Kathmandu to celebrate Chhath, the biggest festival in the Tarai-Madhesh region.
The crash killed 14 people, including 13 from Sundarpur. The driver, Ravi Shankar Mandal, was from Kabilasi, while fellow victim Ram Pravesh Yadav, also from Sundarpur, lived with his family in Malangwa. Six others were injured.
Residents of five neighbouring villages joined the funeral procession. As the bodies were placed on funeral pyres, several relatives collapsed. Some had to be given intravenous fluids at home. The tragedy has plunged Sundarpur into mourning.
The bodies arrived in the village late Friday after post-mortem examinations at Hetauda Hospital. Three ambulances brought them from Hetauda, but taking them into the village proved too difficult for families already struggling to come to terms with the loss.
Former Madhesh Province lawmaker Sanjay Yadav, seeing the families’ distress, asked the ambulances to stop near the cremation site. Relatives were then brought from their homes in another vehicle to see the bodies and bid their final farewells.
The moment the bodies were taken out of the ambulances, relatives broke down. Some collapsed, while others could barely stand. Even residents struggled to comfort them. The mass funeral left Sundarpur and neighbouring villages reeling.
A large crowd gathered on the riverbank for the last rites. Grief overwhelmed the gathering, and many struggled to find words to console the bereaved.
Among the hardest hit was Awadhesh Yadav, who lost six family members, including his eight-month-pregnant wife, Poonam. Each time he stepped forward to light a funeral pyre, he broke down and had to stop. He struggled to carry out the final rites as relatives watched.
Their unborn son was buried nearby.
Awadhesh’s mother, Nirmala Devi Yadav, also collapsed at home and had to be given intravenous fluids. She lost her daughter-in-law, three granddaughters and two sons in the crash.
The scale of the loss has left the entire village struggling to cope, said Krishna Kumar Yadav, chair of Chakraghatta Rural Municipality. He had rushed to Hetauda after hearing about the accident.
“Chhath is not just a festival for families in the Tarai-Madhesh. It is a time to reunite with relatives, spend time together and share happiness,” he said. “The untimely deaths of those returning home for the festival have taken that happiness away from families in Sundarpur.”
Shiva Puri is the Rautahat correspondent for Kantipur Publications.
