Woman loses son, daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter in road crash
Five people including four members of Salatun Begum’s family were killed in a road accident on Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Noapara area of Habiganj on Saturday morning.
Fifty-year-old Salatun Begum is from Madonnagr village of Hazipur union of Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila.
“Road accident killed my son, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter; oh Allah, how I would endure this shock,” she lamented.
Visiting his house at 4:00pm on Saturday, people were seen gathering at the house of Salatun Begum, relatives were mourning; neighbours and relatives were trying to console Salatun Begum. Bodies of three deceased were kept on the house yard.
A relative said, “Today was supposed to be a festival at this house. Rice flour was prepared from newly harvested paddy. Cakes and sweets would be baked, but no happiness is left. How a parent would bear it.”
Expatriate Raju Ahmed, 28, survived the road crash. He was also injured. He said, “There was dense fog. No vehicle was visible on the road. All of a sudden, there was a hit with a bang. Then I remembered nothing. Later I heard fire service personnel rescued me inside sand-laden truck and sent me to hospital. I survived because I fell on the sand.”
Relatives said Salatun Begum’s eldest son Raju Ahmed, 28, arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka from Malaysia early on Saturday. Raju Ahmed along with his relatives was returning home by a microbus.
When the microbus arrived in Habiganj’s Noapara area around 6:00am, the microbus collided with a sand-laden truck, coming from opposite direction, and was simultaneously hit by another pick-up van from behind. The road accident left five people dead on the spot.
The deceased were Sihab Uddin, 13, son of Salatun Begum, Sabiha Akter, 21, daughter of Salatun Begum, Abdus Salam, husband of Sabiha Akter, from Verachara village of Habiganj’s Kamalganj upazila, Habiba, 2, daughter of Abdus Salam, and Sadir Mia, 28, driver of the microbus driver, from Alinagar village of Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila.
Severely injured, Salatun Begum’s husband Nurul Haque and son Raju Ahmed were admitted to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
Relatives said Salatun Begum and Nurul Haque have three sons and a daughter. Their eldest son Raju Ahmed lived in Malaysia and second son Saju in France while youngest son Shihab was a student of class seven at a local madrasha.
Hajipur union parshad Ward 5 member Moniruzzaman Helal said people are mourning the loss of the lives in the locality.
Shihab was buried in Madangar while bodies of Sabiha, Salam and Habiba were taken to their home after namaj-e-janaza and driver Sadir was also buried in his village, Moniruzzaman said.