'My mother was in my arms when she breathed her last', says Uttara tragedy survivor

The newlywed couple Riya Moni and Hridoy, who got married on Saturday, lost five members of their family as a 150-tonne girder of BRT-3 Elevated Expressway fell on their car, smashing it to the ground, in Dhaka's Uttara yesterday.

Breaking down in tears, Riya Moni said, "I lost everything. My mother was in my arms as she breathed her last – crushed inside the car.'

"Blood was oozing out of my mother's mouth and nose. She couldn't even speak her last words to me," Ria said.

"They hung the girder without any safety measures for little profit." She lamented.

Riya Moni and her husband Rejaul Karim Hridoy were able to get out of the car immediately after the girder fell on the vehicle, but could not manage to save the other family members.

"Why did they toy with peoples' lives? We've lost everything. We want the highest punishment for those responsible," the saddened survivor Riya Moni said while the couple went to the Suhrawardi Medical College morgue today to see their dead relatives

Five members of their family including Riya's mother Fahima Akhtar, her father-in-law Rubel Hasan, Fahima's sister Jharna and her two children died on the spot.

They were heading to the bride's house in Ashulia after attending a post-wedding family event at Dakkhinkhan's Kawla area and Hridoy's father was driving.

Describing the accident, Rejaul Karim Hridoy said, "The girder was hung upon the road without any safety measure. Vehicles were crossing under the girder and our car followed them. All of a sudden the girder fell on our car and killed five of my family members."

"Who will be held accountable for this sheer negligence?" Hridoy asked.

Meanwhile, a case has been filed against Bus Rapid Transit's contractor over the incident.

The brother of the deceased Fahima Akhtar and Jharna Akhtar filed the case with Uttara west police station at midnight.