Reckless battery-powered rickshaw kills woman in Dhaka

A woman has died after being hit by a battery-powered rickshaw in Dhaka.

Tania Begum, 30, was fatally injured in an accident at Shahbagh intersection on Monday afternoon, according to her family.

She succumbed to her injuries in the evening while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, or DMCH.

Her husband, Hasibur Rahman, an office assistant at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, or BSMMU, said Tania was standing with their 4-year-old daughter at Shahbagh when the battery-powered rickshaw struck her.

“Tania had a dental problem and was heading to BSMMU from our rented apartment in Azimpur with our daughter for treatment. I asked them to wait at Shahbagh,” Hasibur told bdnews24.com.

“As they got off a rickshaw and waited, another battery-powered rickshaw approached at high speed,” he said.

Tania managed to push her daughter aside but was herself critically injured by the speeding rickshaw. Passers-by rushed her to DMCH, where she died around 7:30pm.

Shahbagh Police Station chief AKM Shahabuddin Shahin indicated that preliminary findings suggest that the rickshaw driver had left the vehicle to get tea when it unexpectedly began moving on its own, leading to the accident.

Although no arrests have been made, a case will be filed regarding the incident, said Shahin.