Two students were killed and 12 others injured when a rash driver ploughed through passengers on a footpath near Radisson Hotel on Airport Road in the capital yesterday. The two deceased—17-year-old Dia Akter Mim of Class XI and 19-year-old Abdul Karim of Class XII—were students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College. Another student of the same college was critically injured and was admitted to Kurmitola General Hospital.
At least 50 buses were vandalised by angry fellows.
Kazi Sahan Haq, officer-in-charge (OC) of Cantonment Police Station, confirmed the incident to The Independent. “Two students were killed. The condition of the other is serious. Irate students vandalised the bus and blockaded the road after the incident. As a result, there was tremendous traffic congestion on the road,” said the OC.
Angry locals nabbed the errant bus driver and handed him over to Cantonment Police Station shortly after the mishap.
Around 3:30pm, the OC said normal vehicular movement had been restored, but students continued to fume over the incident.
Sagir Mia, assistant director of Kurmitola General Hospital, said, “Fourteen people were brought here after the accident. Two of them were declared dead. We gave primary treatment to six while the other six were taken to Combined General Hospital (CMH).”
An eyewitness said a group of students was waiting for the bus at the foot of the flyover. Two buses of the Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan were trying to overtake each other. When the students tried to board the buses, one of the buses—Dhaka Metro B-119297—ran over the students.
On getting this news, the furious students came out and started organising protests on the road. When they started vandalising vehicles and torching buses, vehicular movement on the airport roads ceased.
Sachin Mallik, assistant commissioner (traffic) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said the mob torched and vandalised over 50 buses in the area. The accident occurred around 12:30pm, following which students from the educational institution took to the streets and blocked the road in protest. Vehicles were vandalised and a bus was torched immediately after the accident.
Around seven to eight students were waiting in front of Kurmitola Armed Forces Medical College to cross the road when the mishap took place, he added.
Abdul Ahad, additional deputy commissioner of the DMP’s Gulshan division, said movement of traffic was suspended for nearly two hours on this important road of the capital.
Senior police officials went to the spot and removed the protestors from the road. The road was cleared around 2:30pm. They detained the bus driver and helper at the spot, he added.
The infuriated students claimed that the route has proved to be extremely dangerous for all commuters. They alleged that bus drivers and their helpers do not control their speed and always try to overtake each other.
Recently, the death of Saidur Rahman
Payel increased serious concerns about the road safety of the people. Payel, an NSU student, was seriously injured while boarding on a Hanif Paribahan bus as he got off in the middle of the road amid traffic congestion. Instead of taking to hospital, staff of the bus threw him on a canal and later on July 23, his decomposed body was discovered from the canal at Gazaria upazila under Munshiganj district.
Just a month ago, a former student of Jahangirnagar University (JU) was killed in the same area after being hit by a speeding bus. Such accidents are occurring quite frequently in the capital because of rash driving.
Earlier, the tragic deaths of Rajib Hossain and Rozina Akther prompted experts to look into the causes of such recurrent accidents in Dhaka.
Rajib, a Titumir College student, lost his right arm on April 3 this year when a Sajan Paribahan bus rammed a BRTC double-decker bus parked near SAARC circle in the capital. He died on April 17.
All efforts by the government to rein in errant drivers have proved futile. Such mishaps are occurring regularly in the capital and rash drivers are getting away with impunity in the absence of exemplary punishment.