Three people, including two schoolchildren, lost their lives in a tragic road accident in Dohazari on the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway when a speeding Purabi Paribahan bus rear-ended a battery-operated rickshaw.
Another student sustained severe injuries in the collision, which occurred at approximately 8:30am on Thursday (13 March).
The deceased siblings, 12-year-old Wakar Uddin Adil and 15-year-old Umme Habiba Rizvi, were students of Dohazari Patshala Public School and College.
They were en route to their coaching centre when the accident occurred. The rickshaw driver, 45-year-old Ruhul Amin, also perished in the crash.
One of the siblings died on the spot along with the rickshaw driver, while the other succumbed to injuries while being transported to hospital.
Among the injured is 15-year-old Kazi Fahmida Washima Tushin, a student of Class Nine, who remains in critical condition.
Dohazari Highway Police Officer-in-Charge Subaranjan Chakma said, “The two siblings were travelling to their coaching centre in the rickshaw when it was struck from behind by a bus. The driver and the two children lost their lives on impact. The bus has been seized, but the driver and conductor fled the scene.”
Following the accident, enraged locals staged a protest, blocking the highway until 11am.
Demonstrators demanded the construction of speed breakers, citing frequent fatalities on the road due to reckless driving.
The blockade was eventually lifted after intervention by the army and police.
