Natore village shocked to silence as four members of a family die in road crash

The family was taking their father for medical treatment when their autorickshaw collided head-on with a truck

Four members of a family were travelling from their village in Natore to Rajshahi to seek medical treatment for the father. But, as the autorickshaw they hired travelled along the Rajshahi-Dhaka highway on Saturday, it crashed head-on into an oncoming truck, killing them and their autorickshaw driver, who hailed from a neighbouring village.

Insab Ali, 75, was suffering from cancer, relatives said. His family was taking him to Rajshahi for chemotherapy. He was accompanied by his son Ayub Ali Labu, 35, daughter Parvin Begum, 32 and granddaughter Sharmin, 17.

They were travelling in an autorickshaw driven by Mokhlesur Rahman, 45.

The villages of Chakokantopur, where the family lived, and Makimpur, from where the driver hailed, were unusually quiet on Sunday.

Family, friends and other people in mourning had flocked to the homes of the bereaved.

Abu Sayeed was having difficulty speaking. He had sent his daughter Sharmin to oversee her grandfather's treatment alongside her aunt and uncle.

“But none of them came home alive,” he sobbed.

Khaleda, the wife of accident victim Ayub Ali, couldn’t stop crying. Now that her husband and father-in-law were gone, she felt helpless about caring for her two children.

The truck was travelling to Natore along the Kharkhari bypass while the autorickshaw was going to Rajshahi, said Zamirul Islam, deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police. After they had a head-on collision, both vehicles fell into a ditch, he said.

Police and the Fire Service and Civil Defence staff recovered the bodies and took them to the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. Four of them had died on the spot while another was declared dead at the hospital.

Former Chapila Union Council member Sihab Uddin said the dead were buried following the last rites.