Tragedy rips apart family

Saifuzzaman Khan Mintu was returning to Dhaka with his three children and wife yesterday after a long-awaited trip to Bandarban.

The joint director of Bangladesh Bank had earlier promised to his 7th grader daughter Tasfia that they would visit the hills this winter. While in Bandarban, they planned to make another trip in near future.

But everything changed when a lorry rammed his car at a roundabout on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Faujdarhat area of Sitakunda upazila. Mintu, Tasfia and her younger sister Monti were killed while Mintu’s son Tasnim and wife Konika were critically injured.

The crash happened around 8:30am in foggy weather, highway police said.

The girls died at the scene, said Abdul Awal, officer-in-charge of Barowalia Highway Police Station.

“Fire fighters and police rushed to the spot and sent the banker, his wife and son to Chattogram Medical College Hospital,” the OC added.

Police seized the lorry, but its driver fled the scene, he added.

Mintu died around 12:30pm at the hospital. His wife and son are undergoing treatment in neurosurgery ward of the hospital.

Mintu’s brother ZI Mizanur Rahaman Khan said, “Taking my niece Tasfia from her hostel in Feni, he and his family went to Bandarban on December 23. He used to drive the car.

“They were a happy family. I don’t know how I will convey the news to my 90-year-old mother.”

Family sources said Tasnim was in class III and Monti in class II.

Mintu’s friend Mozammel Hossain told the Daily Star: “After the crash, his wife Konika woke up in the hospital and asked about her daughters. She does not know that her husband and daughters are dead.”

Doctors said the condition of the mother and the boy were critical as both of them suffered critical injuries to the head.

Born in Chandpur’s Haziganj, Mintu was the fourth of 11 siblings.

He joined Bangladesh Bank in 2005 as assistant director.