Schoolgirl loses legs in Jashore road crash, highway blocked

A schoolgirl lost her legs and two others suffered injuries when a rickshaw-van carrying them was hit by a lorry in Sarsha upazila of Jashore this morning.

Traffic movement on Benapole-Jashore highway remains halted as angry mob blockaded the road, our local correspondent reports quoting Mashiur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sarsha Police Station.

The lorry that hit the rickshaw van was also torched, the OC added.

The three girls were going to school by the van when it was hit by the lorry of Jashore Pally Bidyut Samity around 11:00 am on Benapol-Jessore highway in Navaron area, the OC said.

The injured were rushed to Navaron Hospital where doctors had to amputate both the legs of one of the students, said the OC quoting hospital sources.

The road remains blocked at the time of the filing of the report at 11:40 am.

What happened yesterday?

Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury, a road safety campaigner and student of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), was run over by a bus at Dhaka’s Bashundhara gate yesterday morning.

Police and fellow students said Abrar was on the zebra crossing when a bus, racing with another, crushed him under its wheels around 7:30am.

What the protesting students demand?

Students of the university and other universities in the area burst into protests following the death of their fellow student and blockaded Pragati Sarani to press home their eights point demands.

As a continuation reports of blockades and demonstrations came in from multiple locations across Dhaka city today.

Long tailbacks were seen at multiple points at Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Mirpur Road, Mohakhali, Progati Sarani and others.

Jashore’s accident also echoes another student losing one of his limbs in an accident and eventually dying.

Rajib Hossain, a third-year student of Government Titumir College, lost a hand after it got stuck between two speeding buses trying to overtake each other Dhaka’s Bangla Motor on April 3 of last year.

After two weeks in coma, Rajib finally drifted off to death on April 17.