Four friends travelling from Khulna perish from starvation in Dhaka traffic gridlock
Last Wednesday Mishap Talukder of Khulna set out on a road trip to the capital with his three best friends. They were celebrating their recent financial gains from a startup pyramid scheme called RiverValley. Their startup gained rave reviews where people spent money to buy little pyramids all across Bangladesh, Mongolia and the moon and name each pointy structure after their beloved.
The friends were heading to the capital to open a restaurant based on their pyramid scheme. Little did they know that their fun times would end up in fun-eral* times (*reporters asked to keep morbidity low - Ed.).
The four friends, accustomed to the calm streets of Khulna, were caught off guard by Dhaka's impromptu traffic snarls. Google maps took a disastrous turn as they became trapped in a seemingly endless sea of vehicles.
After a long and brutal six hours stuck in the same spot, the thrilling adventure turned into a nightmare when hunger struck the travellers. Unlike the seasoned city dwellers, the four friends did not know that stocking up on essentials like food, drinks and mobile data was essential.
After a long and brutal six hours stuck in the same spot, the thrilling adventure turned into a nightmare when hunger struck the travellers. Unlike the seasoned city dwellers, the four friends did not know that stocking up on essentials like food, drinks and mobile data was essential. Initially, the four friends marked themselves "safe" on social media. But as the hours dragged on, the friends found themselves making progressively agitated Facebook posts.
As severe hunger set in, many celebrities sent them love, hearts and prayers. Many netizens tweeted (or X'd) about how they were standing by the four trapped travellers.
On Thursday, a harrowing 23 hours later, three of them tragically succumbed to starvation. Their names have been withheld to respect the privacy of the victims' families. But more so because one of them did try to eat the others.
Netizens have expressed outrage for almost an hour on social media with some asking why the four friends simply did not get out of their car and walk.
"Footpaths, we don't have any," exclaimed Masud Rana, representative of a local motorcycle group. "The only footpaths we have, we need for our motorcycles and it's not enough. We need more footpaths."
Local authorities have expressed their condolences and emphasised the need to address the capital's traffic crisis. Authorities have quickly formed a committee to find out why previous committees have not returned from a trip to Europe last year to study traffic management.
As soon as they are found, plans will be drawn to create more overpasses, underpasses and ladders on the sides called "sidepasses". This is a revolutionary development spearheaded by the forestry department so people can scale past the traffic much like Tom Cruise tackling the Grand Canyon walls.