One moment they were enjoying the company of friends or the smell of new books, completely oblivious to the tragedy bearing down on them. The next moment, they were dead.
At least four lives were lost Wednesday in separate incidents as far apart as Rajshahi and Chuadanga, yet sharing a familiar agent of death: large, speeding, wayward vehicles out of control and causing havoc not only on the roads, but off them as well.
In Chuadanga district, a young man was killed and three others were injured as a speeding truck drove through a roadside stationary shop at Dolatdiar village in Sadar upazila.
The deceased was identified as Shafiuddin alias Shafi, 30, son of Didar Mondal hailing from the same village.
Witnesses said Shafi and upto four others were engaged in the age-old Bengali preoccupation of some afternoon adda (conversation) at the shop when a truck careened off the road and rammed through the shop, leaving the youth severely injured. Shafi succumbed to his injuries after locals took him to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital.
In Rajshahi district, three people including a schoolgirl were killed and four others injured when a bus ploughed through a bookshop at Naudapara area in the city.
The deceased were identified as Anika, 13, a student of Shah Makhdum School and daughter of Rustam of Bharalipara, Ismail Hossain, 24, son of Ismail and Sabuj Islam, 32, son of Mohammad Ali.
The accident took place around 11am when a Rajshahi-bound bus of ‘Arobengal Paribahan’ from Naogaon ploughed through a shop named ‘Labiba Library’ as its driver lost his control over the steering after hitting a motorbike, leaving three people killed on the spot and four others injured, said Zillur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Shah Makhdum Police Station.
The injured were taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
Later, locals put up a barricade on Rajshahi-Naogaon road protesting the incident, disrupting traffic movement.
On information, police went there and seized the bus, the OC added.
