Little Sayma's last 'Ta-ta' to her mother still echoes
"Ma, I'm going to school. Ta-ta!" — those were the final words nine-year-old Sayma Akter, a third-grade student at Milestone School and College in Uttara, said to her mother before leaving home on Monday morning.
Hours later, her lifeless body returned in an ambulance, wrapped in a silence that will likely haunt the family forever.
The death toll from Monday's (21 July) plane crash at Milestone College's Diabari campus has risen to 31 — mostly children — after four more injured victims passed away. The toll may rise further, as over 70 people are still undergoing treatment, some with severe burns.
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"My daughter used to tell everyone she would become a doctor. That was her dream," her father Shah Alam told TBS, his voice breaking. "Our neighbours used to call her 'Doctor Sayma.' But that dream is now buried with her."
Grief has gripped not only Sayma's family but the entire Biprobortha village in Gazipur like a shadow. Sayma's grave now lies in the yard of their home.
After the funeral prayers at 11am today (22 July), she was laid to rest — alongside the memories she left behind.
Her older brother Sabbir Hossain, who had just passed his SSC exams from the same school, broke down in tears beside her grave.
"A friend called and told me there had been a plane crash at the school," he said. "We searched everywhere for her. After 8pm, we were told a body matching her description was at the CMH. I identified her from her earrings and the braid in her hair."
Sabbir brought her body home that night.
Minara Begum, Sayma's mother, is inconsolable. "I usually took her to school every day, but yesterday my brother dropped her off. Later, I saw the news of the crash on Facebook," she said. "Before leaving, she waved at me and said, 'Ma, I'm going to school. Ta-ta!' I never heard her voice again."
