Rangpur crash: Helper was behind the wheel as driver fell asleep

The truck that overturned in Rangpur, killing 16 people, was being driven by an assistant to the driver, who was asleep during the crash, survivors have said.

The cement-laden truck picked up 54 Eid holidaymakers, mostly garment workers, from Gazipur’s Joydebpur on its way to Lalmonirhat.

It veered off the road, hit a tree and went upside down in Rangpur’s Pirganj around 5:30am on Saturday. At least 11 people were also injured.

Most of the passengers were from Lalmonirhat. The others are from Kurigram, Jhenaidah and Mymensingh.

The survivors said they asked the driver’s helper to slow down but he did not pay any heed.

Khalilur Rahman, a delivery man of PRAN in Joydebpur, who was admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital with injuries, said the driver seemed to be exhausted.

Rahman said the driver stopped the truck three times and washed his face with water to reduce drowsiness.

The driver at one point asked the helper to take the wheel and fell sleep after 20 passengers left the vehicle at Pirganj bus stand, according to Rahman.

“The helper suddenly sped up. We cried and asked him to slow down. He was not listening to us. The truck hit a tree beside the road and overturned,” he said.

Rahman lost two of his cousins in the road crash.

His wife Rina Begum was also being treated at the hospital.

Highway Police Sub-Inspector Hafizur Rahman told bdnews24.com that the versions of the road crash provided by three other survivors at Pirganj Upazila Health Complex were the same.

“We’ve come to know that the driver’s helper was behind the wheel. The helper too got asleep at one stage and lost control,” he said.

Rangpur Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Wahiduzzaman said the authorities formed a two-member committee, headed by a BRTA assistant director, to investigate the crash. 

The district administration gave families of the dead passengers Tk 20,000 each to carry and bury the bodies. The injured people got Tk 5,000 each for treatment.