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People gather on the bank of the Sagardighi after the car was pulled out of water. Picture by Main Uddin Chisti
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Cooch Behar, Feb. 22: A 30-year-old driver reversing a car with his son sitting beside him drowned in Sagardighi lake this afternoon when he lost control and the vehicle plunged into the water.
Local people rescued the boy, but his father Bikash Burman died.
Bikash was the driver of Santosh Burman, a lawyer in the Cooch Behar district court, located on the bank of Sagardighi. Bikash had just dropped Santosh Burman outside the court and was reversing the car to go in the opposite direction when the accident happened.
“Bikash lost control of the Maruti 800 and the car broke through the fence of Sagardighi and plunged into the water. A child was seated inside the vehicle and we later learnt that it was the driver’s son,” said Jalil Ahmed, a Trinamul Congress leader and a lawyer who was witness to the incident.
People who had rushed to help could rescue six-year-old Akash. But the driver was stuck in the seat as the car sank in the 10-15ft deep lake.
“I had come to the court in connection with a suit. While standing outside, I saw a car reversing and then ramming into the rails on the northern side of the lake. With some others, I jumped into the water and could pull out the child through the window of the car. But we couldn’t save the driver as the car went down and he got stuck on the seat,” said Abhijit Debnath, a resident of Chakchaka near Cooch Behar.
The car was brought out of water by police and fire brigade and Bikash was found on the driver’s seat.
Bikash was taken to hospital where doctors pronounced him brought-dead. He was a resident of Debibari in town.
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