A Mirpur-bound bus knocked down the victim, Saddam Hossain, when he was helping passengers get into his bus at about 9:00am.

The killer bus suddenly moved closer to the other bus to intercept the passengers but they managed to get into the vehicle hurriedly.

"But Saddam, who was behind all the passengers, was hit by the bus and suffered serious head injuries," said his elder brother Mohammad Bachchu, who is the conductor of the same bus on which Saddam worked.

He said they had not been aware of the fatal accident until the driver reached the next stop. "As I went back to the previous stop to bring Saddam, I found him lying on the road in a critical state," Bachchu said.

The boy was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries at about 12:30pm.

Reckless driving and competition among bus drivers, according to traffic officials, are mainly responsible for road crashes which claim many lives each year, but the phenomenon is still going on unchecked.

When contacted last evening, Demra police could not give any information about the accident.