Published : 27 Oct 2025, 12:03 AM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 02:38 PM
The atmosphere at Dhaka’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital has turned sombre with grief as relatives of Abul Kalam mourned his sudden death from a metro rail bearing pad.
Inconsolable, Irin Akhter Pia, Kalam’s wife, collapsed several times outside the morgue on Sunday.
Holding one of their young sons in her arms, she broke down saying: “I never wanted to bid him farewell today. I didn’t even close the door behind him. What will happen to my children?”
Around 12:30pm on Sunday, the 36-year-old was walking along the footpath near the Krishibid Institute, under the Farmgate metro station, when the heavy bearing pad fell from above, killing him on the spot, said Tejgaon Police chief Mobarak Hossain.
Kalam, originally from Naria in Shariatpur, worked at a travel agency selling air tickets, according to his nephew Shahadat.
He lived in Narayanganj with his wife and their two sons, aged 3 and 4.
Used in bridges and flyovers to absorb vibration, elastomeric bearing pads are made from neoprene or natural rubber and are installed between the pier and viaduct joints.
Some contain multiple internal steel layers, encased in thick rubber. Each pad can weigh between 50kg and 200kg.
Earlier, on Sept 18, a bearing pad fell off at Khamarbari area on the same route, halting the service from Agargaon to Motijheel for 11 hours.
