Newborn who survived Barguna road crash dies at hospital

A newborn girl who survived a road accident in the Amtali upazila of Barguna yesterday afternoon died at a hospital later that night.

She breathed her last around 9:00pm yesterday at the Intensive Care Unit of Patuakhali Medical College Hospital, less than 24 hours after her birth, said Md Wahid Shamim, a pediatric specialist at the hospital, today.

"When the newborn was admitted to the ICU, she was already in critical condition with serious head injuries and symptoms of hypothermia from being submerged in cold water," said the doctor.

"We did everything we could, but unfortunately, we could not save her," he added.

With her, four people have died in the accident so far.

Earlier, three people, including the mother of the newborn, were killed and three others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a battery-run auto-rickshaw on the Patuakhali-Kuakata Highway in Barguna's Amtali upazila yesterday.

The deceased were Mosaddeka Begum, 24, of Baloibunia village under Golkhali union in Patuakhali's Kalapara upazila; her father Azizul Haque, 65; and her mother-in-law Khaleda Begum, 50.

Mosaddeka's newborn daughter, her husband Zahidul Islam, and the auto-rickshaw driver Wahab Gazi were critically injured and admitted to Patuakhali Medical College Hospital.

Police said Zahidul and his family were on their way to the hospital for the newborn's check-up. Around 1:30pm yesterday, when they were near Keowabunia Secondary School, a Kuakata-bound bus from Patuakhali collided head-on with their vehicle.

Azizul and Khaleda died on the spot. Mosaddeka was declared dead after she was brought to the hospital.