Two teenage boys were killed in separate accidents that were the results of reckless driving in the capital’s Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi areas yesterday.
The deceased were Nuruzzaman, 15, from Baufal in Patuakhali, and Md Fahim Ahmed, 12, from Sreepur in Gazipur.
In Mohammadpur, a human haulier tried to overtake another human haulier in Dhaka Udyan area around 7am, and while doing so hit and ran over Nuruzzaman who was crossing the road at the time, his friend Sirajul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.
Severely injured, Nuruzzaman was immediately taken to Sikder Medical College Hospital, but was later transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) as his condition deteriorated. The doctors at the DMCH pronounced him dead.
Nuruzzaman worked as a helper of a human haulier that plies the Gabtoli-Sadarghat route, Siraj said.
Visiting the spot around 3pm, this correspondent learnt that the human haulier service had been suspended in the area following the accident, without any announcement.
Such sudden disruption in service caused much inconvenience and sufferings for the commuters in the area, especially women.
Rashida Akhter, resident of Basila area in Mohammadpur, said more than one-third of the commuters used human hauliers, so the suspension of human haulier service created much pressure for the buses running on the route.
In Dhanmondi, a local bus, a Route 27 VIP bus, hit Fahim and his mother Jharna Begum around 1:15pm on Mirpur Road, near Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Hospital, as they were getting off of a Trans Silva Bus.
Fahim was injured in the accident and was immediately taken to the hospital, where the doctors pronounced him dead.
Later, police sent the body to the DMCH for a post-mortem.
The accident sparked anger among the commuters who vandalised both the buses and set fire to the Route 27 bus. A team of fire fighters doused the fire around 2:15pm and the two buses were seized by Dhanmondi police. Driver of the Route 27 bus, Md Delwar, was arrested as well.
Police sources said both the drivers’ reckless attitude was responsible for the accident. The driver of the Trans Silva bus did not park the vehicle on the side of the road, and the Route 27 bus tried to overtake the bus without checking the road.
