A storm damaged Rakibul Islam Milon Molla’s house in Faridpur’s Boalmari some days ago, so he decided to go to the deputy commissioner's office on Tuesday to bring tin sheets distributed as relief.
The 42-year-old took his wife Sumi Begum, 35, sons Ruhan Molla, 9, and Habib Sinan, 6, and Sumi’s grandmother Marjina Begum, 70.
He thought he would send the tin sheets back home with them and he would travel to Dhaka, where he worked as a lift operator at the finance ministry. They took a pick-up truck along with some others after failing to get a bus.
All five are among 14 pick-up passengers killed after the vehicle crashed into a bus stranded in a pothole.
“I spoke to him last night. He said he would return to Dhaka after handing over the tin roofs to his family. Who knew that was going to be his last journey?” said Rakibul’s cousin Nuruzzaman Khosru.
Sahana Begum, a resident of Kanaipur’s Dignagar village, saw the incident unfold before her eyes.
A wheel of the bus had fallen into a pothole on the road, she said, and it was parked unevenly on the road when the pickup van crashed into it.
Ruhul Amin, another cousin of Rakibul, said: “He was on his way to the relief branch of Faridpur DC office to get the tin sheets. The accident happened on the way.”
Shekhar Union Parishad Chairman Kamal Hossain said: “The whole village is in mourning. We have never had so many people killed from the same family.”
Rakibul was the middle child among the three siblings. His elder brother Faridul Islam is a school teacher, and his younger brother Habibur Rahman runs a mobile refill shop in Alfadanga.
The others killed in the accident are Tabibur Khan, 55, Jahanara Begum, 56, Sonia Begum, 58, Nurari, 2, who was identified with a single name, driver Nazrul Islam, 35, Shukurun Nesa, 85, Kohinur Begum, 70, Surjo Begum, 55, and Iqbal Hossain, 45. They were residents of Boalmari and Alfadanga.
Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Md Kamrul Ahsan Talukder and Superintendent of Police Mohammad Morshed Alam rushed to the scene after the accident was reported. A five-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the incident. The families of the dead will receive Tk 500,000 in compensation, while those injured will receive Tk 300,000, the deputy commissioner said.
People will continue to die on the roads if the public is not more aware and careful while travelling, said SP Alam. Owners and transport workers have a large role to play in this, he added.
A five-member committee has been formed to investigate the incident. The families of the dead will receive Tk 500,000 in compensation, while those injured will receive Tk 300,000, the deputy commissioner said.
