Nine-year-old child dies in road accident at Karimganj village

A nine-year-old boy was hit by a mini-truck at Kandigram under the jurisdiction of Badarpur police station in Karimganj district on Monday.

The deceased Masuk Ahmed was the son of Harish Ali, a resident of Kandigram. Harish is a daily wage labourer by profession.

According to sources, the mishap took place around 12:30pm this afternoon when Masuk was about to go to a shop nearby their house to buy something. A mini-truck (bearing registration number AS-11 BC-5711) hit Masuk while he was crossing the road at Kandigram, around 40km from Silchar. As a result, the kid sustained critical injuries, sources said.

Onlookers immediately gathered on the spot and rushed Masuk, who was bleeding profusely, to a hospital at Srigouri where he was declared brought dead. The news of the kid’s death spread like wildfire and triggered fury among residents as people in large numbers staged a road blockade in protest against the accident.

Vehicles remained stranded on the road for long hours because of the blockade. The protesters vented their ire saying the accident took place due to rash driving by the mini-truck driver and demanded his arrest. They said a number of mishaps have taken place in the past in a similar manner and stressed that necessary measures should be taken by the authorities concerned in this regard.

Receiving the information of the road blockade, a team of police reached the spot and spoke to the enraged protesters. The blockade was withdrawn after the police assured that they would maintain a check on reckless driving. The police assured that necessary steps will be taken so that mishaps can be prevented/minimised in the future.