This is an extremely sad and heartbreaking New York Times story on the row of funeral parlors along Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Chinatown, which has seen a flush of activity connected to the horrific tour bus crash that killed fifteen passengers on an overnight casino trip earlier this month: After a Bus Crash, Grief and Custom on Chinatown's Funeral Row.
The funeral homes along Mulberry Street, in Chinatown, have planned at least eight funerals for the bus crash victims. The ceremonies, which began last Friday, have had grown women wail in grief and lone strangers salute victims they knew only from newspapers. The funerals have been crowded, cathartic — and steady.Here's an equally depressing story related to the bus crash, on Wang Jianhua, a poor Chinese immigrant who was smuggled into the United States three years ago to work as a restaurant deliveryman, only to killed in the bus crash: Bus Crash in the Bronx Ends a Man’s Fight for His Family.
Last Friday, one was held for Bing Fong Lee Lo, the ticket-taker who rode the bus back and forth and knew all the casino regulars. On Saturday, another was held down the block for Ock Thlin Wong and his wife, May Lin, doting grandparents who walked the neighborhood holding hands.
Ninh Khanh Tran's funeral was on Wednesday, and Bi Qin Mei's was Thursday. Arrangements were still being made for several more.
"It's one of the biggest tragedies to happen to the Chinese community in recent years," said Wilson Pui Wing Mak, director of the Fook Funeral Group, which is arranging funerals for eight of the victims. "I would say Sept. 11 was the last."
