Family visit ends in tragedy
2007-01-09 09:26
Una Cupido and Richard Roberts
Cape Town - She and her child saw her husband for the first time in three
years.
And what should have been a happy day at the beach, turned into a tragedy
when Asisa Ahmed, 34, and her husband, Nazeem Ahmed, 33, were pulled into
the water at Bakoven after a freak wave swept them off the rocks.
Shocked family members of the Pakistani couple congregated in front of Mr Ahmed's home in Kensington on Monday.
Sayed Jefferies, owner of the house where Ahmed stayed, said the couple's
eight-year-old daughter's last memory of her parents was of them waving at
her from the rocks.
"Mahem didn't want to go into the water. She must have been scared of the
water and preferred to wait in the car."
Bodies flown back to Pakistan
That was where the police and emergency workers found her while they were
searching for the couple's bodies.
According to Jefferies, Ahmed's brother, Naveed Ahmed, was desperately
trying to find a place on a flight to take the bodies to Pakistan. Mahem
will be on the same flight as her parents' bodies.
According to Jefferies, Ahmed was the owner of AB Panelbeaters and tow-in
service. His wife and daughter lived in Pakistan.
"The family told Mahem last night that her parents won't be coming back and she just cried," said Jefferies.
Jefferies said according to the couple's religion they should have been
buried on the same day. But because they were citizens of Pakistan, the
family decided to bury them in their homeland. They were from Shkobura.
Meanwhile, the family of the 16-year-old Jenovian Goodwin waited on the
beach at Strandfontein for his body to wash up. Jenovian, his two brothers
and friends were swimming at Strandfontein when he was swept away by a
strong current.
- Die Burger