Dhaka: Within a span of seven hours, two schoolgirls—one of Class V and another of Class IX—were killed while crossing roads in Dhaka on Saturday.

The victims are Khadija Sultana Mitu, daughter of Bachchu Mia of Mandura village in Comilla’s Manoharganj, and Sabiha Akhter Sonali, daughter of Zakir Hossain, a resident of Segunbagicha in Dhaka.

Khadija Sultana was a Class V student of Lakshmanpur Government Primary School at Manoharganj in Commilla and Sabiha Akhter was a Class IX student of Rahima High School in the Dhaka South City’s Segun Bagicha area, reports UNB.

Police said a Gabtoli-bound bus from Jatrabari ran over Khadija Sultana Mitu, at about 3:30pm when she along with her relatives was crossing a road in front of Pubali Bank, near Shahbagh crossing, leaving her critically injured.

She was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctors declared her dead.

DMCH police camp in-charge Mozammel Haque said Mitu along with her sister Ayesha Akhter Shimu, her husband Omar Farroque and their children were returning from Shahbagh Shishu Park (Children’s Park) when the accident took place.

Omar Farroque, who lives in Shyampur, said they went to the park in the morning.

He said bus driver Shaheen Hossain was driving desperately and hit Mitu when they were crossing the road to go to a restaurant for having lunch.

Shahabagh police officer-in-charge Abu Bakar Siddique said they arrested Shaheen immediately.

Earlier, Sabiha was killed as a recklessly-driven bus ran over her in front of Bangladesh Bar Council near Matshya Bbhaban crossing.

The Shahbagh police OC said a speeding bus ran over Sabiha at about 8:30am while she crossing the road on her way to school, leaving her dead on the spot.

The body was sent to the DMCH for autopsy.

Incensed by the death, local people blocked the road at Matshya Bhaban intersection, halting traffic for around 30 minutes during the rush hour.

The traffic returned to normalcy after police intervention.

The law enforcers also seized the bus but its driver and helper fled the scene.