Run over by bus, teen loses leg

A teenage girl lost her right leg as the wheels of a BRTC bus ran over it on Airport Road near Banani's Chairman Bari on Friday night.

The Uttara-bound BRTC double-decker bus coming from Mohakhali hit Rozina Akhter, 18, a domestic worker, while she was crossing the road in Chairman Bari area at around 8:30pm, Nazrul Islam, a witness of the incident who took her to the National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR), told The Daily Star.

According to a press release of Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, BRTC has handed over Tk 50,000 to the victim and has also taken the responsibility of financing her treatment.

Hailing from Dhobaura upazila of Mymensingh, Rozina had been working at the house of a journalist in Banani for nine years.

The accident occurred as the girl, even in the presence of a foot-over bridge within 50 yards, was jaywalking across the road.

“Her right leg got severed from her thigh down following the accident. Her physical condition is now stable but she is not out of danger,” Professor Abdul Gani Mollah, director of NITOR, told The Daily Star.

Rozina was rushed to the hospital immediately after the accident.

The rear wheels of the BRTC bus ran over her right leg after she was hit by the vehicle and fell on the road, Nazrul told the The Daily Star.

Nazrul, an engineer, said he and his friends, who were standing at the roadside, chased and caught up with the bus. Meanwhile, the passengers of the bus forced to stop the driver, took him off the bus.

Rozina was on the road after being hit for about one minute before Nazrul, with the help of another man, took her in a CNG-run auto rickshaw to the NITOR.

Rozina told this correspondent at her bedside yesterday afternoon that she and her friend had left her employer's house and went to a relative's house at Mohakhali.

While returning, she signaled an approaching double-decker bus to stop using her hands when crossing the street in front of Chairman Bari. The bus had slowed down but when she walked forward it sped up suddenly and hit her. She fell on the road and the double-decker's wheels ran over her legs. She lost consciousness after screaming in pain for a while due to the fractures in her leg.

Asked why she did not use the foot-over bridge nearby, Rozina said she always used the foot over bridge, but on that fateful day she was feeling weak and, like many others, decided to jaywalk.

Soon after the incident, the passengers of the bus caught the driver and handed him over to the police, a duty officer of Banani Police Station told The Daily Star.

A case was filed with the police station in this connection, the officer said.

Rozina's father, Rasul Mia, said he worked as a day labourer at Dhobaura in Mymensingh. He said he has six daughters and one son. Rozina is the second eldest. He said he had been sick for a few years and was unable to work most days.

Rasul Mia said his two daughters worked as domestic help in Dhaka city and sent him Tk 11,000 per month. He said his family depended heavily on this money.

He demanded that his daughter's leg is returned -- either through grafting of the severed leg or an artificial one. He also demanded punishment of the person responsible.

Prof Abdul Gani Mollah, who is treating Rozina at NITOR, said she was brought in an unconscious state on Friday night and was given 6-7 bags of blood at the hospital.  He said they were able to save her as she was brought to the hospital immediately after the accident.

He said more operations may be required to be performed on her in the future.

Miraj Uddin Mollah, consultant orthopedic surgeon at NITOR, told reporters that Rozina is now suffering from mental trauma. After her physical condition recovers, she will require psychological counseling.

In another such incident, Rajib Hossain, a college student, had lost his right hand it got stuck between two buses in the city's Bangla Motor area on April 3. He died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 17.