Seventh grader killed by DSCC garbage truck

A 13-year-old schoolboy was killed after being run over by a garbage truck of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) in the city's Madinabagh area on Thursday night.

The accident took place around 9:30pm when Mahin Ahmed, a seventh grader at Ideal School and College, Motijheel, was walking to his friend's house in Mugda.

Locals took injured Mahin to Mugda General Hospital. Later, he was moved to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he breathed his last around 10:30pm, said his elder brother Mahfuz Ahmed.

The truck driver and his assistant were caught by locals at the scene. The two were handed over to police, said Jainal Abedin, sub-inspector of Mugda Police Station.

Police have seized the truck.

Meanwhile, DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh yesterday said a person hired by the truck driver was at the wheel when the road accident took place on Thursday night.

"We will not tolerate such irregularities. Strict administrative action will be taken in this regard," he told reporters after visiting the house of the schoolboy in the evening.

Mentioning that a case was filed in connection with the crash, the mayor said they want strict punishment for those responsible. "We want to ensure a fair trial."

Taposh said they had taken strict measures over such irregularities before.

"I fired those found involved in irregularities. I have hired many new drivers. As a result, the city corporation's vehicles did not cause any crash in the last two years. We will take strict measures so such road accidents do not recur," the mayor said.

With the latest incident, garbage trucks of two Dhaka city corporations have so far claimed at least 18 lives since 2016, according to media reports.

Of the victims, six died in 2021 alone, the highest number of deaths in a year in accidents involving garbage trucks.

A lack of skilled drivers, allowing people without training and driving licence to drive garbage trucks, operating unfit vehicles and reckless driving are among the main causes of so many road accidents.

After some recent crashes, the two city corporations formed probe bodies and recruited some skilled drivers. But these measures proved to be not enough for ensuring safe plying of the garbage trucks on the streets.

The Daily Star has found that many crashes involving garbage trucks were not probed and those who were at the wheel during road accidents got away.

The city corporations also failed to fully implement the recommendations made by their expert committees. The recommendations include ensuring professional drivers for all vehicles, barring cleaners and other staffers from driving vehicles, and hiring an adequate number of skilled drivers.

Mokbul Hossain, spokesperson of the Dhaka North City Corporation, yesterday told The Daily Star, "We appointed 45 skilled truck drivers last year. We are continuously monitoring the activities of all the drivers with GPS tracking devices and cameras fitted to the trucks."

Md Hadiuzzaman, a professor of civil engineering at Buet, said the management of city corporations' trucks should be an ideal example for the others in the transport sector.

"But when unlicensed drivers drive unfit vehicles of the city corporations, it sets a bad example for the drivers in the private sector."

He said the truck drivers and the city corporation officials concerned should be held accountable.