Four killed, two hurt in road crashes

Four persons, including a freedom fighter and two students, were killed and two others injured in three separate road accidents in two districts since Sunday night.

The dead were identified as Freedom Fighter Lutfar Rahman, 70, and Jahidul Islam, 55, from Dinajpur, and Hossain Ali Rana, 16, from Lalmonirhat, and Bibek Mandal, 13, from Dhaka's Khilgaon area.

In Dhaka, Bibek, an eighth grader of a local school, was killed after a pickup van ran over him yesterday afternoon.

Police said that the van hit Bibek from behind while he was commuting on his bicycle on the Demra Link Road in Khilgaon around 5:00pm. Bibek was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he died two hours later.

Mashiur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Khilgaon Police Station, told The Daily Star that they seized the van and detained its driver from the spot.

Meanwhile in Lalmonirhat, a truck ran over Rana, an SSC examinee, while he was crossing the the Kakina-Chaparhat road near Kakina area around 7:00am, leaving him dead on the spot.

The driver fled the scene with the truck, police said.

Rana was a student of Kakina Mahima Ranja Memorial High School and was waiting for his results, said Maqbul Hossain, OC of Kaliganj police station.

As the news of his death spread, agitating students from different local schools blocked the Lalmonirhat-Burimari highway for two hours from 12:00pm demanding the driver's immediate arrest.

Police later intervened and convinced the students to withdraw the blockade, promising that their demand will be met, OC Maqbul said.

However, talking to journalists, Aminul Islam, a student of class 10 of the school, said they would wage tougher movement from today if the truck driver was not arrested by then.

The driver had been identified and would be arrested immediately, the OC confirmed.

Earlier, on March 19, a university student -- Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury -- was killed after a bus ran him over in Dhaka's Bashundhara Residential area, triggering the protest of students for safe road once again.

In Dinajpur, freedom fighter Lutfar, along with two others -- Mosir Uddin, 68, and Saidur Rahman, 50, were taking a walk after morning prayers in Sadar upazila's Tajpur village when a tractor lost control and hit them around 6:00am, said Redwanur Rahim, officer-in-charge (OC) of Dinajpur Sadar Police Station.

Lutfar died on the spot and the two others were injured.

Locals rushed them to M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital, the OC said.

In another incident, Jahidul was killed when a speeding truck hit him in Chirirbandar upazila's Bekipur area on the Dinajpur-Rangpur highway.

The truck hit him while he was crossing the highway around 10:00pm on Sunday, said Abdul Malek, OC of Dinajpur's Dosmail Highway Police Station.