Two students killed falling of pick-up for polls campaign

Two school students died after falling off a pickup truck on Wednesday night in Noakhali's Sadar upazila.

The truck they were on was used for a UP-polls candidate's campaign activities in the upazila's Charmatua union.

The dead were identified as Mehraj Uddin, 12, a sixth grader of Hazi Ahmed Ullah High School, and Mohammad Samrat, 11, a fifth grader of Ikra Pre-cadet Academy.

They were among the 17-18 students and youths, campaigning for Kamal Uddin, the AL nominated chairman candidate in the union, who were on the flatbed pickup.

Some eight to 10 schoolchildren participated in the campaign on Wednesday evening, said Promoj Chawdhury, sub-inspector of Shudharam Police Station. Around 8:00pm, some youths joined them and then there were about 20 people crowded on the truck.

An hour later, the driver suddenly pressed the brakes while making a turn at Monarkhil village and around 10 of them fell off the vehicle, he said.

Mehraj was crushed under the wheel and died on the spot. Three others, including Samrat, were injured and rushed to Noakhali General Hospital.

Samrat was being shifted to Dhaka due to his critical condition but died on the way around 2:00am.

The driver managed to flee from the spot and could not yet be identified, the SI added.

Meanwhile, chairman candidate Kamal Uddin denied that the students were campaigning for him.

They were on the truck as part of the Victory Day rally in the area, he said. 

Md Shahed Uddin, officer-in-charge of Sudharam Police Station, said the victims' families are not willing to file a case as they are relatives of Kamal Uddin.