Mother, son in critical state

A woman and her 10-year-old son who survived a head-on collision between a bus and a microbus in Narsingdi's Darikhali on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway on Sunday are still in critical condition at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Maruf, the boy, had suffered multiple injuries, including those to his head, and remained unconscious till filing of this report yesterday evening.

With similar injuries and both legs broken, his mother Feroza Begum, 35, had not recognised relatives after intermittently regaining consciousness.

Maruf's father Kutubuddin, a rickshaw puller, is struggling hard to bear the treatment expenses, already having taken Tk 20,000 in loans from relatives.

He is searching for more from neighbours in Keraniganj, Maruf's uncle Rafique Sheikh told The Daily Star.

The 13 persons killed and four injured were inside the microbus. Residents of the Kamrangir Char Flour Factory area, most are victims of river erosion in Kishoreganj's Nikli village.

Kutubuddin and Feroza had moved to Dhaka 15 years back and mother and son were going to the village for, what had turned into over the years, an annual get-together centring a fair, he said.

Maruf had taken Tk 2,000 from Kutubuddin with a lot of plans on how to spend it at the fair, said Rafique

The remaining two injured, Kamrun Nahar Lipi, 40, and Kausar Miah, 35, are also undergoing treatment at DMCH. The Daily Star is yet to trace the ward they were in.

Relatives have taken the bodies of the deceased to Kishoreganj. Their neighbours arranged a prayer yesterday afternoon and hung a banner praying for salvation of the departed souls.

Belabo Police Station Officer-in-Charge Badrul Alam Khan said highway police filed a case against the owner and driver of the bus and seized both vehicles.