A seven-year-old girl, riding pillion on her father’s bike, was crushed to death after she came under the wheels of a water tanker on Friday.
Dia Jain, daughter of Naresh Jain, was on her way to school in Gunfoundry from Asif Nagar when the accident occurred. Mr Jain suffered injuries on his right hand and abdomen and is being treated at a private hospital at King Koti.
“Mr Jain lost control of his bike after the tanker splashed water on him on the stretch between Chapel Road and Gunfoundry and as a result, he fell on the other side of the road, while Dia came under the rear wheel of the tanker,” said Abid Road sub-inspector K. Laxmaiah.
The girl was severely injured and died on the spot.
The accident took place around 8.30 a.m. opposite the Methodist Church. Immediately after the accident, the tanker driver fled the spot and the vehicle was seized, he said.
Dia was a third standard student of Rosary Convent High School in Gunfoundry, Abids and a resident of Dattatreya Nagar Colony in Asif Nagar. Her father is a pawnbroker.
Eyewitnesses told The Hindu that the water tanker was moving slowly because of the steep road and Mr Jain, who was in a hurry to drop his daughter at school, tried to overtake the vehicle. The bike handle grazed the tanker from the side.
“It was unfortunate. Everything happened in a flash. As it was school time, the bike was speeding and the tanker was also moving in the same direction,” said Jacob, who was among several others to rescue Mr Jain.
Following Dia’s death, her relatives and local auto drivers protested against the accident and movement of heavy vehicles in the area.
“We demand immediate action against such vehicles plying dangerously in the area, as there are more than five educational institutions in the same stretch, traffic police must put an end to the vehicle menace,” said Abdul, an autorickshaw driver.
Police should trace the tanker driver and take stringent action against him, said the victim’s uncle Roshan.
The body was handed over to family members after post-mortem at Osmania General Hospital.
Later in the evening, the driver, identified as Babu Rao, 55, was taken into custody by Abid Road police.
