Reshma Nahar Ratna had a dream of conquering Mount Everest. She was a school teacher by profession but a mountaineer at heart.
All of it ended on Friday, when the 33-year-old was crushed under the wheels of a car while cycling on the Crescent Lake Road near the parliament building in Dhaka.
The accident took place in the Lake Road area in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at around 9am on Friday, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Jane Alam Munshi said.
“Reshma was cycling on Lake Road adjacent to Chandrima Udyan of the Parliament Building. A fast-moving microbus ran over her, critically injuring her,” the OC said.
“Pedestrians rescued her and took her to the emergency department of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where the on-duty doctor pronounced her dead.
“The body is in the morgue for an autopsy. Her family members have already been notified,” the OC said.
Reshma Ratna's cycle | Collected from Facebook
Police recovered the completely damaged bicycle from the spot.
The microbus driver fled the scene and is yet to be detained. Police are working on identifying the microbus, the OC added.
Meanwhile, Reshma's brother-in-law Moniruzzaman Monir filed a case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station after the incident, said Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police’s Inspector (investigation) Abul Kalam Azad.
Moniruzzaman said they heard about Reshma’s accident around 11pm and went straight to the hospital.
He said Reshma used to live in Old Dhaka with her elder sister. Later, she moved to Mirpur as her workplace had changed. She was a teacher at a school in Dhanmondi
Reshma loved singing, reciting, reading books, cycling, and running. She used to run marathons as well as climbing mountains, Moniruzzaman reminisced.
According to Reshma’s family and friends, after completing study from Eden Mohila College, Reshma received training in mountain climbing at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in India.
Reshma's mountaineering expedition started in 2016 by reaching the peak of Keokradong, a mountain in Bangladesh, they said.
After conquering Mount Lenana in Kenya, Reshma successfully climbed Mount Stok Kangri and Kang Yatse-2 Mountain in Ladakh. Both mountains are more than six thousand meters tall.
