Sighs, cries as crash kills 10-year-old

Clutching her father's fingers, 10-year-old Faija was crossing a road at Uttara yesterday morning. Her mother and younger brother were nearby.

All of a sudden, a speedy microbus hit the girl from behind, throwing her a few yards away. Within moments, the vehicle went over her.

A critically injured Faija was rushed to a local hospital but doctors declared her dead.

The fifth grader of Milestone School was among four people who were killed in separate road accidents in the capital yesterday. The other incidents happened in Baridhara and Malibagh.

Such deaths on roads seem unstoppable with precious lives being lost every day.

In August last year, protests for safe roads shook the country. Thousands of students from schools, colleges and universities took to the streets following the tragic death of two college students in the capital's Kurmitola due to reckless driving.  

The government promised various actions, but deaths in road accidents continue as usual. 

YOUNG LIFE CUT SHORT

Faijul Islam, assistant editor of The Daily Ittefaq, his wife, their daughter Faija and son, six-year-old Borno, came out of their home at Sector-18 of Uttara around 7:50am.

They walked for some time and were crossing a road to take a rickshaw to Faija's school, said one of her cousins, Mostafizur Rahman Monti, quoting the victim's parents.

Suddenly, a microbus hit Faija. She was holding her father's fingers and was walking a bit ahead of him, he said. "The driver braked for a moment after hitting her and then ran her over," he said.

Other guardians and locals  caught the driver and the microbus and took Faija to Uttara Adhunik Hospital in the vehicle. However, doctors there declared her dead, he said.

As the news spread, the driver fled from the hospital, leaving the vehicle in front of it.

The Daily Star correspondent found Faija's home full of sighs and cries. No words could console the grieving family.

Nurul Muktakim, officer-in-charge of Turag Police Station, said they seized the microbus and were trying to arrest the driver.

The body was taken to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College morgue for an autopsy.

BARIDHARA

Tea vendor Shahin Hawlader, 42, and night guard Kabir Sheikh, 45, were killed after a bus driver had lost control and drove the vehicle onto a pavement in Baridhara's Coca Cola bus stop area early yesterday.

The two were killed on the spot, said Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH's police outpost.

Zahid Talukder, a relative of Shahin, told The Daily Star the Kuril-bound bus came through the median strip and hit the tea stall around 3:00am.

Police seized the bus but the driver fled.

The bodies were taken to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsies, the police official said.

MALIBAGH

An unidentified woman, aged around 45 years, was run over and killed by another bus in Malibagh's Mouchak area around 5:00am.

She was declared dead after some pedestrians took her to the DMCH, Bachchu Mia said.