14, including five of a family, die in Faridpur road accident

At least 14 others were injured when a passenger bus crashed head-on into a pickup truck

Fourteen people, including five members of the same family, have been killed after a passenger bus crashed head-on into a pickup truck in Faridpur. At least 15 others were injured in the accident.

All of the dead were passengers on the pickup truck.

The accident occurred around 7:45am on Tuesday on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in Faridpur Sadar’s Kanaipur.

Locals, the Fire Service, highway police, and district police began rescue operations at the scene after the accident.

Eleven, including the driver of the pickup truck, died on the spot. Three more of the injured died after they were taken to the Bangabandhu Medical College Hospital in Faridpur.

The Unique Paribahan bus was headed from Dhaka to Magura when it crashed head-on into a pickup van travelling from Faridpur’s Alfadanga.

Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Md Kamrul Ahsan Talukder and Superintendent of Police Mohammad Morshed Alam rushed to the scene after the accident was reported. A five-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the incident. The families of the dead will receive Tk 500,000 in compensation, while those injured will receive Tk 300,000, the deputy commissioner said.

People will continue to die on the roads if the public is not more aware and careful while travelling, said SP Alam. Owners and transport workers have a large role to play in this, he added.

The five members of a family killed in the accident were identified as Rafiq Molla, 35, from Faridpur’s Bejidanga village, his wife Sumi Begum, 23, their two children Ruhan Molla, 5, and Habib Molla, 3, and his mother. Rafiq worked as a liftman at a government office in Dhaka. He was headed back to Dhaka with his mother, wife, and two sons on the pickup truck after the Eid holidays.

The others killed in the accident are Tabibur Khan, 55, Jahanara Begum, 56, Sonia Begum, 58, Nurari, 2, who was identified with a single name, driver Nazrul Islam, 35, Shukurun Nesa, 85, Kohinur Begum, 70, Surjo Begum, 55, and Iqbal Hossain, 45.

The families of the dead say they had hired the pickup truck after failing to find bus seats.

Sahana Begum, a resident of Kanaipur’s Dignagar village, saw the incident unfold before her eyes.

A wheel of the bus had fallen into a pothole on the road, she said, and it was parked unevenly on the road when the pickup van crashed into it.