In a quiet neighbourhood of Rajbari, the air is heavy with a silence that no words can pierce. Side-by-side in a family courtyard lie the bodies of Kazi Samya Saif and his wife, Johura Anti – a sight that has left the entire town of Rajbari cloaked in a deep, suffocating shroud of mourning.
Their story was supposed to be one of beginning, not an end. Though they officially wed in February 2025, it was only this past February that the couple held their formal ceremony and began their shared life in Uttara, Dhaka.
Samya, a dedicated professional at a private buying house, and Anti, a promising intern doctor at Rajshahi Medical College, had returned to their roots in Rajbari to celebrate the Eid holidays with family.
The journey back to their lives in the capital began on a Wednesday afternoon. Boarding a Souhardya Paribahan bus at the Rajbari Bus Owners’ Association area, the couple carried with them the warmth of a holiday spent at home and the dreams of a future yet to unfold.
Those dreams were extinguished in a single, horrific moment at the Daulatdia ferry terminal.
As the bus attempted to board a pontoon, it lost control and plunged into the depths of the Padma River. In the cold embrace of the water, the young couple’s year-long marriage reached a tragic, premature conclusion.
For Kazi Mukul, Samya’s father, the accident has brought a devastating isolation.
Samya was his only child – the light of his life. Speaking of the profound loss, Samya’s uncle, Kazi Shahidul Islam, shared the family’s heartbreak: “By losing his son and daughter-in-law, my brother Kazi Mukul is now completely alone. Samya was a very good boy.”
What should have been a routine return to the city has instead become a final homecoming. At the Daulatdia terminal, where thousands pass through daily, a tragedy has left a family shattered and a community in shock.
A life of immense potential and a marriage filled with hope were lost in an instant, leaving behind only the echoing cries of relatives and the haunting image of two lives cut short by the river.
