Garment workers block highway after truck hits and kills a security guard in Gazipur

Traffic was disrupted for almost four hours as angry workers set fire to the truck

Disgruntled workers descended on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in protest after a security guard deployed to a garment factory in Gazipur’s Kaliakoir died in a road accident.

The victim, identified as 40-year-old Azadul Haque, was run over by a truck on the Dhaka-Tangail highway at Chandra around 8 am on Sunday. Three others were injured in the incident.

The truck was subsequently torched by the angry workers of Mahmud Jeans factory.

The workers later withdrew the blockade around noon following a meeting with the factory authorities and the local administration. They were assured that an overhead footbridge would be constructed on the scene of the accident and that the family of Azadul would be paid compensation, said Kaliakoir Municipality Mayor Md Mujibur Rahman.

Azad was heading to the factory along with other workers through Chandra when they were hit by a speeding truck, according to Atiqul Islam, chief of Konabari Highway Police.

After the incident, workers seized the truck and set fire to it. They also blocked the highway and vandalised more than 50 vehicles stuck in traffic. Locals later doused the fire on the truck to prevent it from spreading.

The road blockade caused a 6km tailback on both sides of the highway, according to the police.

Meanwhile, the workers who were injured in the accident have been sent to the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital. Police have also removed the truck from the road.