Mala Mamata, eight-months pregnant, was planning to spend the final and crucial days of her pregnancy with her husband Mala Suresh (28), a contract employee at State Bank of India, Shantinagar village.

On Sunday morning she received the body of her husband wrapped in a white shroud, breaking her spirit and leaving her in tears.

Even in her wildest dreams Mamata never imagined that the joyous occasions of the birth of their first child would be marred this way. Suresh, whom she affectionately called ‘Suri Bava’, was among the 14 men of the village who lost their lives in a ghastly road accident involving a bus and the multi-utility vehicle on National Highway 44 near Veldurthi village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday morning.

Mamata’s doctor fixed her delivery date in June first week and she was not willing to go to her maternal home for delivery, because of her husband. Family members recalled how every time Suresh accompanied his wife to the doctor and how he would take care of her. Suresh and Mamata got married nearly 11 months ago and were living a happy life. “He promised to return by evening and his phone was not reachable,” Mamata said. She was completely silent and her grief was visible in her flowing tears.

The victim’s mother, Laxmi Devi, who was not willing to step out of the house, recalled how she had forecast that she would have a grandson and had told her son about it. “Even the couple were yearning for a baby boy,” Laxmi Devi told her relatives, who visited their house to console them.

Even Mamata was not ready to leave the house. But, around 12.30 p.m. she along with her mother-in-law and other relatives went to the ground to pay their last respects to her ‘Suri Bava’, who was buried in the mass funeral.