Actress Elina Shammi sustained serious head injuries after a battery-powered rickshaw overturned and landed on her in Dhaka on Wednesday evening.
Shammi told her followers that she had gone out to buy necessary items for a shoot when the accident occurred. According to the actress, the e-rickshaw was travelling at high speed when a stone or brick-like object apparently went under one of its narrow wheels, causing it to lose balance.
The rickshaw overturned, throwing Shammi onto the road before the vehicle landed on her. She suffered injuries to her head and forehead. Doctors later put 15 stitches across two wounds.
Shammi went to hospital in a traditional rickshaw after the accident.
On Thursday, she described the incident in a social media post, sarcastically referring to the battery-powered vehicle as a “Tesla”, a term commonly used in Dhaka.
“Life is fleeting, and we realise it again and again,” she wrote, raising concerns about road safety and the risks ordinary people face on the streets.
Recalling the crash, Shammi said she had repeatedly asked the driver to slow down, but he ignored her warnings.
“I kept telling him, ‘Brother, please go slowly’; but he was racing against the wind,” she wrote.
She said the wheel apparently lost balance after running over the stone or brick-like object. The driver was thrown in one direction, while Shammi fell onto the road and the vehicle landed on her.
Shammi said a screw from the wheel may have cut her forehead and injured the front part of her head. She thanked Allah for saving her life and said the accident could have had far more serious consequences.
“Allah has given me another chance at life. Alhamdulillah,” she wrote.
Questioning the safety of battery-powered rickshaws, Shammi asked who would take responsibility for the injuries and damage caused by such accidents.
She also asked her followers to pray for her recovery and safety.
