Crash ravages little girl’s world

Six-year-old Bristy Akhter, her parents and grandfather came to the capital by launch yesterday morning to visit her ailing grandmother in a hospital. 

At the Sadarghat terminal, they hired a CNG-run auto-rickshaw to reach her uncle's home in Matuail. They were supposed to go to the hospital in Mohakhali later in the day.

But as the auto-rickshaw was making a U-turn in front of Matuail Child and Maternal Health Institute around 7:00am, it was hit by a Saintmartin Paribahan bus, said police.

Bristy's mother Sharmin Akhter, 35, father Riazul Islam, 45, and grandfather Abdur Rahman, 65, all residents of Barishal's Wazirpur upazila, were critically injured. They were declared dead after being rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said Bishwajit Sarker, a sub-inspector of Jatrabari Police Station.

Bristy and the auto-rickshaw driver, Mohammad Rafique, 42, were also injured. Bristy was undergoing treatment at the hospital while Rafique was discharged from it.

Bristy's grandmother Shahida Begum is being treated at the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital in Mohakhali, said Shahida's son Mohammad Tanvir, adding that the tragedy struck when the victims were on the way to his home.

Police said they were trying to detain the bus driver.

Meanwhile, an auto-rickshaw driver named Rajib Hawlader, 38, was killed as the vehicle overturned after being hit by a truck in Rampura early yesterday.

Rampura Police Station OC Rafiqul Islam said after the vehicle overturned, it was hit by a covered van.

Badly injured, Rajib was first taken to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation. Later, he was shifted to the DMCH, where he died in the morning.

The OC said that the truck was seized and the driver, Mainuddin, was arrested immediately after the incident.

Nizam Uddin, elder brother of the deceased, said their home is in Bakerganj upazila of Barishal. Rajib lived in Khilgaon's Sepahibagh area with his son, two daughters and his wife Lucky Begum.

Data shows a rising trend in road crashes in the last few years despite government agencies promising a change and initiating various steps after a major road safety movement in July-August 2018.

According to a police report, a total of 5,088 people were killed in 5,472 road crashes in 2021, which is 30 percent higher than the previous year.