Seven-month-old Sinnatur Nur was with her parents on a bus. She was probably asleep on her mother's lap. The reckless bus carrying them hit a truck by the road. The infant died on the way to the hospital. Mother Omi Akhter could hardly even mourn for her child as one of her legs has been amputated. She is in immense pain of amputation at a hospital. The child’s father Rubel Mia is injured as well. The whole family, relatives and locals, were shocked by the sudden disaster imposed on them.
The accident took place at around 12.00pm on Wednesday in the Kazir Shimla area of Trishal upazila on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. Seven people were injured in the accident. Of them, the child’s mother Omi Akhter has been sent to Dhaka for advanced treatment. Others are being treated at the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
According to eyewitnesses and injured persons, the bus was speeding recklessly. It collided with the truck while racing with another bus.
Relatives of the victims and police said Sinnatur, who was critically injured in the accident, died on the way to a private hospital in Mymensingh. The baby's mother was taken to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. There her right leg was amputated. Her husband Rubel was given first aid there.
Rubel Mia and relatives were weeping at the premises of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital on Wednesday afternoon. Rubel Mia, a factory worker by profession, lamented, "My beloved child has gone to God. My wife is also dying. What is the point of my existence now?”
The air was filled with the cries of the grieving family. Omi Akhter’s mother said with tears in her eyes that her daughter came to visit her from Ghorashal three days earlier. She was empty now, as her beloved grandchild was no more and her daughter had lost one of her legs in the accident.
Officer-in-charge (OC) of Trishal police station Main Uddin said police rescued seven injured passengers from the spot and took them to hospital. Sinnatur Nur died on the way to the hospital.
Precious lives are being lost this way on the road every day.
Citing eyewitnesses and police sources, correspondents of Prothom Alo from different areas said that 16 people, including a child, were killed in road accidents at different places Wednesday.
According to official figures, the number of casualties on roads has increased by 30 per cent in the last year. The police keep record of the number of accidents and casualties from the general diaries lodged in case of death on roads. According to that, as many as 5,088 people were killed in road accidents last year and some 3,918 people died in 2020.
According to the police, a total of 2,635 people died in road accidents in 2018 and some 4,138 people died in 2019.
However, there is a big difference between the figures of the police and that of the non-governmental organisations working on road accidents. According to the Road Safety Foundation, some 6,284 people died in road accidents in 2021. In 2020, road accidents caused the death of 5,431 people.
According to a report released by the World Bank in February last year, some 67 per cent of the people who died in road accidents in Bangladesh were able-bodied (aged 15-64 years).
According to the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) the financial cost of road accidents and the damage caused by them in the country is around Tk 400 billion annually.