Eight die as two buses collide on Dhaka Sylhet highway

Eight people have died after two busses collided on the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway in Dakshin Surma Upazila.

The accident that occurred near Rashidpur on Friday morning left 15 people injured, said Md Monirul Islam, chief of the local police station.

A Sylhet-bound bus operated by London Express collided head-on with an ENA Transport bus going to Dhaka at around 6.30 am, he said.

Drivers of both buses, the helper of the ENA Transport bus and Imran Khan, a teacher of Sylhet Women’s Medical College, were among the dead.

The dead were identified as -- Sunamganj’s Salman Khan, 28, Rahima Begum, 30, Brahminbaria’s Nurul Amin, 5, Wari’s Sagar Hossain, 19, Osmaninagar’s Manjur Ali, 38, and from Jahangir Hossain, 30, Professor Imran Khan Rumel, 36, of Sylhet Women’s Medical College Hospital and Akhalia’s Shah Kamal, 45.

The injured are being treated in Osmani Medical College Hospital, the OC said.

The deadly collision occurred when the London Express bus switched lane at a high speed, according to eyewitnesses. It crashed into the oncoming Ena bus past the Rashidpur bridge.

One of the surviving passengers of the London Express bus said the driver had been recklessly overtaking other vehicles all the way from Dhaka, ignoring warnings from fellow passengers.

“Initially, it seems the error from the London Express bus caused the accident. It will become clearer after investigation,” Sylhet Fire Service and Civil Defence Deputy Director Kobad Ali Sarkar said.