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On campus, grief has taken many forms -- words, memories, and quiet disbelief.

“Rest in peace and strength. What more can I say? What helplessness defines our existence!” wrote Mridha Md Shiblee Noman, assistant professor and chairman of the journalism and media studies department.

For Riddha Anindya Ganguly, former general secretary of the university unit of the Chhatra Union, Rayan’s social media now feels like a cruel archive.

“We will meet again, Rayan,” he wrote. “Next time, we won’t take a bus, we will board the Hogwarts Express, far away from this world, into some wizarding world.”

Rayan was the former general secretary of the Jahangirnagar University Debate Organisation.

Citing the incident as a “structural killing,” former JU professor Anu Muhammad argued that such tragedies are not mere accidents. “The reasons behind these repeated losses are known and solvable,” he wrote on his social media profile.

JU Vice-Chancellor Prof Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan also expressed deep sorrow. In a condolence message, he said the university had lost a promising student, and the loss to his family was irreparable.

Till filing the report last evening, at least 26 bodies were recovered following the accident. Among the deceased were 11 women, eight men and seven children.

Survivors are haunted by the trauma, while victims’ families are reeling from shock and grief.

Md Rajib Sardar, a resident of Dadchi village in Rajbari Sadar, was returning to Dhaka for work after the Eid holidays. He boarded the bus from the Jamtala area in Goalanda.

Contacted by The Daily Star yesterday, he said, “I saw death from very close…. As the bus was sinking, a few people grabbed onto me. It felt like the end. I don’t know how I managed to get out and float to the surface.”

Md Nasir Uddin, a resident of Ashulia, lost his daughter Ayesha Akter Suma, 30, and seven-month-old grandson, Ayman. “My daughter and her child were coming from Jhenaidah’s Shailkupa to my home. But she will never come home to me now.”

Nasir Sheikh of the Belgachhi area in Rajbari Sadar lost his pregnant sister-in-law Nazmira and six-year-old nephew Abdur Rahman.

“My nephew used to speak like a parrot. He used to stay close to me all the time. He has now been silenced forever,” Nasir said with grief heavy in his voice.