Khilkhet SUV accident: Amrina always followed road safety rules. She still perished
Amrina Haque, 34, was standing on the footpath waiting for the bus to arrive at Khilket around 8:30pm on Wednesday (27 December).
She had just concluded a visit to a factory in Gazipur as part of her job as an assistant manager at a private company.
Her home in Khilgaon was some 12 kilometres away – a journey that would take a little over an hour in the capital's traffic-choked roads.
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Her three-year-old daughter and husband were waiting for her.
It's a wait that will never end again.
"She never crossed the road except through a foot over bridge. She would never even wait on a road, and would stand on the footpaths for the bus," her husband Rezaul Haque told The Business Standard.
As Amrina waited on the footpath, an SUV rammed right into her.
She was among the two other pedestrians, including an eight-year-old, who were killed by the SUV, which ploughed into the crowd.
While Rezaul grieves, he also wonders how to break the news to their daughter.
His daughter, Umme Faiza, can be heard calling out for her mother.
"I want to go to my mother. When is she coming back home?"
Rezaul said he had just returned from laying his beloved wife to rest at his family graveyard in Gazipur's Kapasia.
"We haven't told my daughter yet. I'm that unfortunate father who has to put his daughter through this."
He and Amrina got married about six years ago. Their happily ever after had ended abruptly.
"Such is the fate of a commoner in Bangladesh. Who is to be blamed here? If she got dropped home by the office transport, she would be alive now. She would be enjoying her holidays at home embracing her daughter," Rezaul said.
"Every time people die on roads, authorities take measures to ensure a safer road. They build new footpaths and other amenities but the death toll keeps on rising," he said.
The driver of the vehicle, Dishan, was arrested today in a case filed by victim Amrina's husband at Khilkhet police station, said the Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Sheikh Aminul Bashar.
Yasin, 8, died on the spot while Amrina and Ujjwal Pandey, 26, were pronounced dead after they were taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital(DMCH) following the accident.
Yasin's father Md Sumon, 35, sustained serious injury in the accident and is currently undergoing treatment at DMCH.
The accident took place around 9pm on Wednesday under the Khilkhet footover bridge, Khilkhet police station Officer-in-Charge Sheikh Aminul Bashar confirmed.
Khilkhet police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Mosharraf said a speeding Land Cruiser heading toward the city collided with the island beneath the footover bridge and crushed the pedestrians standing there.
The driver was placed into a three-day remand with the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court's permission.
The white Land Cruiser had a sticker of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on its windshield, police said earlier.
Asked about the owner of the car, OC Aminul said primarily, they have found that the car was registered under a finance company.
He, however, did not disclose the name of the company.
Asked about the CAAB sticker in the car, the police officer said they are yet to receive paper and other documents of the car and cannot confirm anything yet.
In the primary interrogation, Dilshan told the police that he was feeling unwell and tried to park the car safely on the roadside. However, he failed and ended up causing the accident, the police officer said.
The driver had fled the scene shortly after the accident.
The police could not confirm whether there was anybody else in the car during the accident.
Investigation is still going on, the OC said.
