SUZIT KUMAR DAS, Faridpur

Arif Islam, an expatriate working in Malaysia, had been away from home for the past few years. When he finally landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Monday night, his mother, sister and younger brother were waiting outside to receive him.

The family had travelled from Baliadanga village in Jashore’s Jhikargachha upazila for the reunion. As soon as Arif came out of the airport after completing all formalities, his family did not want to wait there any longer. They soon started their journey back home.

But that journey was never to be completed. Little did they know the reunion at the airport would be their last.

In the early hours of yesterday, around 4:00am, the car carrying the family crashed into the rear of a truck that was stationary in a toll queue on the Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway in Bhanga upazila of Faridpur, according to Shibchar highway police.

The car crumpled beneath the truck, trapping everyone inside. Three members of the family died on the spot.

Nurjahan Begum, 50 -- Arif’s mother -- was among them. So were his sister Ayesha Begum, 28, and his younger brother Rakib Islam, 18.

Their driver, Zahid Hossain, 32, also did not survive.

Arif himself initially survived the wreckage but was critically injured. He was referred from Bhanga Upazila Health Complex to Faridpur Medical College Hospital,

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