Normally around this time of the year, everyone looks forward to giving away gifts that brighten people’s homes, room and lives. They look forward to a new year that lies ahead of them.
But this year, the nation has seen numerous sad stories unfolding in the last month of 2010.
This December month has given the nation many reasons to mourn. For family members, friends and the nation as a whole have been totally disturbed by sudden incidences that took away 33 Bhutanese lives.
The month did not favor 26- year old Rita who was one of the nine victims who died in the bus accident at Lamperi yesterday.
Her two children back home in Dagana had insisted on going with her to Thimphu. Her three aunts who waited for her arrival at the Thimphu bus terminal had spoken to the two children just the night before Rita left for Thimphu.
“If we don’t get to go to Thimphu then ama is not going also,” one of Rita’s aunts repeated the children’s words to Bhutan TODAY.
The aunts wept as they identified Rita’s body.
Likewise, many hearts broke when they lost people close to them. The identification of dead bodies made it even worse.
Some cried and some became hysterical while some stood in one corner, not believing what this December month has bought to them.
Following the Tara Air crash which killed 18 Bhutanese pilgrims in Okhaldhunga district in Nepal, the prime minister, Lyonchen Jigmi Y. Thinley told the Bhutanese media that the family members of the victims were all “so inconsolable.”
For most Bhutanese students, December month is a month to rejoice over the academic year that has passed by while they look forward to the new academic year.
The two months of winter break is something every student looks forward to.
But for Tashi Penjor, a class VII student, his winter break ended for ever on December 18.
It was results day and he came back home with a failed report card. An angry mother scolded him for wasting a whole year. She had even warned him about what might happen when his father comes home.
In fear of his father, Tashi Penjore decided to end his life rather than face his father’s temper.
He hung himself by an apple tree in Paro.
Another 21-year old student, studying in Gaedu College was in Thimphu for his winter break.
He and his friend were returning home from Thimphu when the scooter they were traveling on skidded and collided with a railing along the expressway in Babesa.
The accident killed the student on the spot.
On December 5, the body of six-year old Thinley Jamtsho was fished out from a sewerage tank in Babesa.
His body was naked and bloated when he was fished out of the tank with a hook. People who were present at that time said he was still wearing the plastic sunglass that was considered a possession by him.
Another woman in her mid 20s was found dead in a sewerage tank in Babesa.
Carrying a few hundred notes and a pair of gold earrings on her ears, there was nothing that could identify who she was.
In Paro, on December 8, villagers living next to the river found the body of a 28-year old woman.
When the body was found, dogs had surrounded the woman’s body, feasting on the deceased’s insides.
She had drowned to death.
The deceased had gone missing since November 20 and the search for her began on November 23, after her husband reported to the Paro police.
Police told Bhutan TODAY earlier that the deceased was mentally unsound and must have fallen into the river while taking a walk.
Yesterday, in another car accident in Trashiyangtse, one more life was lost.
The biggest car tragedy that ever took place in the country dates back to June 16, 1998. The incident still lives in the memories of all Bhutanese even today.
In that accident, 58 passengers lost their lives with 13 survivors.
There were 72 passengers jam-packed in a bus with half the carrying capacity.
Similarly, in yesterday’s incident the carrying capacity of the bus was only 22 passengers while the bus was carrying 37.
The Tara Air which crashed on December 15 was at least 5,770 kilograms.
The Twin Otter that crashed can fly with 5,670 kilograms including its own weight.
However, the aircraft was an extra 100 kilograms. Experts say that even 30 kilograms more than the capacity is dangerous for a flight.
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