Speed kills: At least 18 die in road traffic accidents across Bangladesh

Road traffic accidents involving around a dozen vehicles, mostly buses, have claimed at least 18 lives and injured scores in different districts days after Eid-ul-Azha.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 15 August 2019, 02:31 PM
Updated : 15 August 2019, 02:31 PM

The vehicles appear to have been speeding as the highways and roads have become relatively empty after the Eid holiday rush.

Thursday was also a public holiday because of the observance of the National Mourning Day. The rush of holidaymakers returning to Dhaka is yet to start as Friday and Saturday are weekly holidays.

In Sirajganj, a pile up of four buses at Kamarkhand on the highway to the west of Bangabandhu Bridge left two dead and at least 25 others injured in the afternoon.

A north-bound Hanif Paribahan bus collided head-on with a Five Star Paribahan bus while two other buses of Dipjol Paribahan and Ena Paribahan hit the Hanif Paribahan bus from behind, according to Bangabandhu Bridge West Police Station SI Jahurul Islam.    

At least seven people were killed and 21 others injured when a bus slammed into a roadside tree on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Feni Sadar Upazila’s Lemua, Feni Mohipal Highway OC Md Shahjahan Khan said.

The Prime Plus Paribahan bus was carrying a picnic party from Dhaka’s Mirpur to Cox’s Bazar, the OC said.

Two buses collided head-on leaving at least three people dead and 31 others injured in Faridpur’s Bhanga Upazila in the morning, Ataur Rahman, chief of Bhanga Highway Police Station, said.

The death toll is also three in a collision between a truck and an autorickshaw at Kotiadi in Kishoreganj. The accident left four others injured, Kotiadi Highway Police Camp Inspector Nasir Uddin Majumder said.

Another autorickshaw was smashed by a bus in Mymensingh’s Fulpur. Two people were killed and three others injured in the accident, Fulpur Police Station OC Imarat Hossain Gazi said. 

A motorcycle rider died after being hit by a microbus in Gopalganj’s Kashiyani. His wife was injured in the accident, Ramdia Police Camp Inspector Aminur Rahman said.