Two schoolgirls were killed in separate accidents that took place within eight hours of one another in the capital yesterday, with witnesses saying that reckless driving led to the loss of the young lives.
The deceased are Sabiha Akhter Sonali, a ninth-grader who was on the way to enrol at Tejgaon Girls High school, and Khadija Sultana Mitu, a student of fifth grade at Lakkhanpur High School in Comilla.
They died after they were run over by buses.
According to family members, one of the victims dreamed of becoming a doctor while the other wanted to be a teacher.
Sonali’s father Zakir Hossain, who is a painter and lives with his family at the Housing and Public Works Ministry’s staff quarter, told the Dhaka Tribune his wife was taking Sonali to enrol her at Tejgaon Girls High School in the morning when the accident took place at Matsya Bhaban intersection.
“A bus hit Sonali while she was crossing the road with her mother. She died on the scene,” he said.
Sonali scored GPA 5 in the Junior School Certificate examinations from Rahima Adarsha High School in Segun Bagicha.
Zakir said: “My daughter wanted to be a doctor but the bus killed her. The dream is now shattered.”
Eight hours after the death of Sonali, Mitu lost her life in another road crash that happened opposite to Shishu Park in Shahbagh.
A passenger bus that run on Jatrabari-Gabtoli route hit her as she was crossing the road with her sister, brother-in-law and her nephew around 4:10pm.
The four were returning home after visiting the park.
Omar Faruq, brother-in-law of Mitu, said she came to his Shyampur residence on a visit.
“We four were crossing the road around 3pm when the bus hit her, leaving her critically injured. She was immediately taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and doctors declared her dead around 4pm.”
The two accidents prompted locals to protest by blocking roads. The High Court Road was blocked for 20 minutes, and Shahbagh Road for nearly half an hour.
A mob also beat Shahin Mollah, who was driving the bus that killed Mitu.
Shahin was later admitted to the DMCH, said Abu Bakar Siddique, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station.
He said both the buses were seized and police were looking for the driver of the bus that killed Sonali.
“Cases will be filed in this connection,” he added.
