Tragic student bought car hours before fatal crash
9:00am Tuesday 26th February 2013 in News
Kanak Al Islam
TRAGIC Kanak Al Islam had bought his new car just hours before he died at the wheel while driving on a country road.
The 22-year-old was driving his new black Renault Clio on the B4192 at Liddington after visiting friends last Wednesday when he lost control while braking to enter the village shortly after 11pm.
The car, also carrying four of his friends, collided with a road sign and then rolled before coming to rest on the roadside.
Kanak and his pal Abdul Kader, 24, who was sitting behind the driver, were trapped inside the vehicle and had to be freed by firefighters, while the three other passengers, including his cousin Runun Nabi, 24, and Mahamadul Tanim, 19, were able to free themselves.
Yesterday, Shabuj Chowdhury, Kanak’s uncle, paid tribute to the Bangladeshi student, who had just been granted a three-and-a-half year visa extension to study a business management course in London.
He said: “He was a nice, gentle boy and from a very big family so it was a real shock for everyone.
“He was going to do a business course in London so he could go back to Bangladesh and take over the family convenience store business.
“He had only rang me at about 7pm that day to tell me he had bought a new car. He was very excited about it and I asked him about the MOT, tax and the brakes – all the things he must check.
“I told him to drive carefully and wear his seatbelt.
“They went to Liddington to visit one of his friends and they were coming back together in the cars.
“What I think happened, from the people in the car I have spoken to, is that he was braking from the 60mph to the 40mph when he lost control.
“It was minus two degrees so maybe it was icy conditions. He lost control and the car flipped over many times.
“None of the other passengers drive so they could not tell me what speed he was going.”
Kanak, who arrived in the UK in 2010 to study, and Abdul were taken to Great Western Hospital, where doctors continued to work to save their lives.
Kanak died of his injuries a short time later.
Abdul was taken to Frenchay Hospital where he remains in a coma.
Shabuj, 36, of Ramsgate, Kent, said: “I have to thank the doctors and paramedics who gave 100 per cent and everyone in the Bangladeshi community in Swindon for the support they have given our family during this hard time.
“We hope for the best for Abdul but he is still in danger in a coma, and Tanim is also at Great Western Hospital with internal injuries.
“Kanak’s father, who works on the Bangladeshi railway, is devastated as he was his only son and the whole family is utterly shocked.
“We will fly his body home so he can be buried as soon as possible in the family graveyard.”
Police arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He was bailed without charge pending further inquiries.
Anyone with any information on the crash should contact Wiltshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
