by Deshi Tribune Staff Reporter:
It was nearly midnight. At the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 62nd Street in Woodside, Queens, 19-year-old Nishath Jannath was crossing the street in the crosswalk, a cake in her hands, on her way home after a late shift at work. She had just stepped off the train. She was almost there. In that moment, a massive garbage truck operated by Royal Waste Services came westbound along Roosevelt Avenue, turned right, and struck her as she crossed. Emergency medical workers arrived at the scene and pronounced her dead. Her home was a ten-minute walk away, on 55th Street.
That night, her older sister, Nowshin Jannath, 21, was at home waiting for Nishath to return. As the minutes stretched into hours and Nishath’s phone went unanswered, a cold dread began to settle in. Around 2 in the morning, Nowshin tracked her sister’s phone location and ran to the bintersection — her mother and father rushing alongside her. When they arrived, they found a scene surrounded by police cars. Nishath’s body lay still on the street. The wailing that rose from that corner in the dead of night carried through the neighbourhood like a wound.
By Monday morning, Nishath’s uncle Jamal Ahmed Shimu described the family home in Woodside as a house consumed by grief. “Everyone inside is crying,” he said. “Nothing will ever be the same again.”
Nishath had been working a part-time job as a receptionist at a parking garage on Parsons Boulevard in Jamaica. She wore a black uniform to work every day. On Sunday night, she finished her shift just after 11 o’clock and boarded the train back to Woodside. Before heading home, she decided to stop and pick up a cake for her little sister. That small, tender decision — an act of love — became the last decision she ever made.
Nowshin, her voice breaking, said her sister was a girl of extraordinary hope and faith. “Nishath was so full of positivity. She always told people to put their trust in Allah,” she said. “She used to say — hold on to hope. Death can come at any time, so be ready. Live in the present, live for this moment. Don’t be trapped in the past or the future.” Nowshin paused, then wept. “She had no idea how little time she had left.”
There were four sisters in the family. The two youngest are 9 and 4 years old. The little one whose birthday cake Nishath set out to bring home will never see her big sister walk through the door again.
Nishath’s father, Helal Ahmed, is the imam of Baitul Jannah Mosque in Woodside — a man who has spent his life offering comfort to others in their moments of grief. Now it is he who is broken. The family came to the United States on immigrant visas in 2017. Their ancestral home is in the village of Rayghar in the Dhaka Dakshin area of Golapganj Upazila in
Sylhet. They came to America carrying the quiet dream of a better life. The brightest light of that dream was extinguished at a street corner just minutes from home.
The NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the crash. The driver of the truck, a 38-year-old woman, remained at the scene and was treated for minor injuries. No arrests have been made.
A spokesperson for Waste Connections, the parent company of Royal Waste Services, issued a statement saying, “This tragic incident in Queens deeply saddens us. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of the victim and all those affected.” The spokesperson added that the company is cooperating fully with the ongoing police investigation and would not be making further comments out of respect for the privacy of
those involved.
The news of Nishath’s death spread quickly through New York’s Bangladeshi community, sending a wave of grief through Woodside, Jackson Heights and beyond. Residents gathered, condolences poured in, and community members pledged to stand by the family. But alongside the mourning, questions are being raised — about the training and oversight
of private garbage truck drivers, about a city where pedestrians continue to die in preventable crashes year after year, and about a system of accountability that too often falls silent after the yellow tape comes down.
Nishath’s janaza will be held on Tuesday after Zuhr prayers at Baitul Jannah Mosque in Woodside. She will be laid to rest at a Muslim cemetery in New Jersey.
Nishath Jannath was nineteen years old. She left behind her words: “Live in the present. Live for this moment.” In her last moments on this earth, she was doing exactly that — living for a moment of joy, carrying a cake through the dark, heading home to the little sister she loved. There is no more human thing than that.
