A 55-year-old man travelling to Dhaka for an eye examination died early on Thursday morning after being struck by a vehicle in the capital’s Uttara area.
The victim, identified as Shafiqul Islam Khan, hailed from Jhenaidah Sadar upazila. According to family members and police officials, the fatal incident occurred at approximately 5:00 am in Azampur, a busy commercial and transit hub along the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in northern Dhaka.
Shafiqul had arrived in the city with his sister-in-law, Rubia Khatun, and five other residents from their village. Speaking at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Rubia explained that the group had travelled overnight from Jhenaidah specifically to seek specialist ophthalmic care in the capital.
“After getting off our vehicle in Azampur at dawn, the rest of us remained standing on one side of the road,” Rubia said. “Shafiqul attempted to cross to the other side on his own, and that was when a vehicle hit him, throwing him onto the tarmac.”
Because of the dim early-morning light and the suddenness of the collision, neither Rubia nor the other companions witnessed the exact moment of impact or managed to identify the offending vehicle.
Bystanders and his companions quickly rescued the critically injured man and rushed him across the city to the emergency department at DMCH. However, Inspector Habibur Rahman, in charge of the DMCH police outpost, confirmed that doctors pronounced him dead upon examination at around 6:15 am.
Shafiqul, the son of Nizam Uddin, leaves behind a son and a daughter. His sudden death underscores the persistent dangers pedestrians face on Dhaka’s major arterial roads, particularly during the pre-dawn hours when heavy inter-district traffic moves at high speeds through poorly lit junctions.
Inspector Rahman stated that the body has been placed in the hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination. Authorities at the Uttarkhan Police Station have been formally notified to initiate an investigation and take the necessary legal steps regarding the hit-and-run incident.
