A seven-year-old girl who was rescued with her throat slit from a remote hilly area in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram died early Tuesday at Chattogram Medical College Hospital.

She died at around 3:30am while undergoing treatment in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, said district police sub-inspector Alauddin Talukder, posted at the CMCH police outpost.

The child’s uncle, Ramiz Uddin, told reporters at the hospital that the family did not know how the girl ended up in the hilly area.

‘My brother’s house and our house are about half a kilometre apart. On Sunday morning she left home. We assumed she was coming to our house. But we do not know how she reached the hills,’ he said.

Ramiz said the child’s condition appeared stable when she left the hospital around 9:30pm on Monday and that she was able to communicate through gestures.

‘Between 2:30am and 3:00am she became restless. She asked for water and food, but doctors forbade it, so we could not give her anything,’ he added.

The police said road repair workers recovered the girl from inside the Eco Park area of Sitakunda on Sunday morning. She was later taken to CMCH by her family members.

The girl’s mother filed a case on Sunday night against unidentified individuals on charges of abduction and attempted murder.

The officer-in-charge of the Sitakunda police station, Mohinul Islam, said police suspected that the child had been abducted from Kumira or brought to the area by other means.

The police have visited the scene and launched an investigation into the incident. A special team has been formed to identify those involved and bring them to justice.

The OC said the case would now be converted into a murder case following the child’s death.