ABU DHABI // Impoverished and ailing, the 70-year-old mother of a man who died in a Dubai bus crash still dreams of her son’s return.
Malti Devi is just one of the grieving parents who lost her family’s only breadwinner in the tragic crash on May 10.
Her eldest son, Vijay Gupta, 45, was killed in the crash — leaving behind his two sons aged 15 and 17, and a daughter, aged 12.
“I’m too old to work anywhere and there is no source of income,” said Ms Devi, who also lost her husband, Moti Lal Gupta, two years ago.
“When I go to bed I think about my son, who was sole breadwinner for us. Sometimes I’ve dreamt that he’s coming back from Dubai but when I woke up I realised it was a dream,” Ms Devi, who belongs to Bihar, a north Indian state, said.
The crash claimed the lives of 13 workers, nine from India and four from Bangladesh, when their bus ploughed into the back of a stationary lorry on Emirates Road.
“There is no support from anybody and our lives are entirely dependent on the mercy of relatives,” Ms Devi said.
“If we get the money, we can run a small business to support our lives.”
Vijay was financing all of his mother’s expenses and now Ms Devi is only helped by her daughter’s son.
Another Indian Virendra Gupta, 32, lost his brother in the crash.
“Because of this tragic incident I was at home for few months to console my parents,” he said.
His parents live in Uttar Pradesh, a north Indian state, while he works as an iron cutter in Gujarat state in the west.
He earns about 7,000 rupees a month (Dh418), which he finds insufficient to support his parents and his own family.
“My father again took another 20,000 rupees (Dh1,195) to finance his expenses. Few months back he took 30,000 (Dh1,793),” Mr Virendra said.
Like the other families, Mr Gupta is still waiting for the blood money entitled to his family following the crash.
“We have handed out power of attorney to a law company in Dubai who follow the case on behalf of us,” he said.
Bangladeshi mission officials speculate that a decision would come from the court by October and families would be able to receive blood money by November.
“We possibly hope that final verdict could come in couple of months and by October or November we would be able to receive cheques for blood money,” said Mizanur Rahman, First Secretary for Labour at the Dubai Consulate.
“Sometimes we get compensations within three to four months,” he said.
“In some previous cases, the consulate has filed compensation claim case and same day, the judge sanctioned and we have received the cheque,”
“After final judgement and money is deposited to the court by the insurance company, we would open the inheritance file at the court claiming the blood money for victims’ families, Mr Rahman said.
The wait continues for families however.
“No help reached us so far, still we are following the case,” said Mohammed Kabir Ahmed, whose nephew Nazrul Islam, 28, was one of the Bangladeshi victims.
Nazrul’s mother, 65, suffers from heart disease and he was aiming to save money for her treatment.
His father died when he was very young.
“Nazrul’s elder brother is also a labourer in Bangladesh and works on daily wages. Sometimes he gets work and sometimes doesn’t.”
Mr Ahmed said that Nazrul was a great hope for their family as his elder brother has five daughters who have almost reached to marriage age and he was about to finance their wedding.
anwar@thenational.ae
