Workers came, lived and died together in accident

Indian nationals Amalesh Kumar, 30, and Shatrudhan Kumar Singh, 26, had also planned to take a vacation at the same time to visit their families later this month.

Hailing from the same village, they came to the UAE together a year ago, worked in the same company and slept in the same room.

Indian nationals Amalesh Kumar, 30, and Shatrudhan Kumar Singh, 26, had also planned to take a vacation at the same time to visit their families later this month as Kumar’s wife had been admitted to hospital due to a heart disease and Singh’s younger sister’s wedding is due on June 9.

However, both their plans and dreams perished along with them when the company bus in which they were travelling rammed into a truck parked on Emirates Road in Dubai on Saturday. Kumar and Singh were two of the 13 workers who died in the horrific crash.

Tragic tales of the deceased, nine Indians and four Bangladeshis, who came to support their families by doing aluminium fabrication work emerged a day after the crash. “Everyone in our village knows about it except my family. I am the only one who knows about the tragedy in the family,” brother of Kumar, Shardananda Singh, told Khaleej Times over phone from his village in Gopalganj in Bihar, some 200km away from the state capital Patna.

“I don’t want our old parents and Amalesh’s ailing wife to be heartbroken. Their condition will be worse by the time we receive his body. I didn’t want to upset Shatrudhan’s parents also who may not be able to bear the loss of their only son when they are preparing for his sister’s wedding. But today they have come to know about it,” he said.

sajila@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE