Reeling from grief

Sometimes, it only takes a moment for the joys of life to turn into disaster. This is certainly true for a road accident that killed four school students at Netrakona on Saturday night.

What started out as a picnic joyride ended in sheer tragedy after two pick-up vans carrying 23 students from different educational institutions in Mymensingh's Gouripur upazila were hit from both sides by two trucks, said police. The accident occurred at Birisiri-Netrakona road in Durgapur upazila around 9pm. The troupe had come to Birisiri for the picnic on Saturday morning.

The accident left three dead on the spot and one of the injured later died at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, police confirmed.

The deceased are: ninth grader Rakib Khan Ridoy (15), third grader Yeasin Mia (10), eighth grader Ashraful Alam (13), and Dakhil candidate Mahbub Alam (17).

"My wife and I work at a garment factory in Dhaka, leaving our two children with my parents at Shalihor village. We were hoping to educate  them so that they go on to lead decent lives, but everything  feels lost now," said a wailing Romzan Ali Khan, father of deceased Ridoy.

The incident put a shadow over Shalihor village under Durgapur upazila, from where most of the victims hail. When this correspondent visited the area yesterday, the  village was seen shrouded by grief. Many shops and business  establishments had their shutters down for the entire day.

Sheikh Md Abu Sayeed, headmaster of Shalihor Hazi Amir Uddin High School  said this is the first incident of its kind for the village.

Seeing their friends lose their lives in front of their eyes, the injured are now left to deal with trauma. "I went senseless seeing the gore around me", said Pias Mia, an eighth grader injured in  the accident.

Some of the locals said the journey was hazardous and risky, with a bunch of students travelling on two small, vegetable carrying pick-up vans to the get to the picnic spot, some 70 kilometres away from Gouripur. Those who organised the picnic showed their utter callousness, said Mizanur Rahman, a local student politician.