At least 17 people were killed in Rajshahi after a passenger bus collided head-on with a microbus on Friday.

The accident occurred in front of Katakhali Police Station around 1:45pm.

Police identified 15 of the deceased as Salauddin, 38, his wife Shamsunnahar, 32, their children Sajid, 9, and Saba, 18 months; Kamrunnahar; Tajul Islam, his wife Mukta, their child Yamin; Mokhlesur, Ful Mia, his wife Nazma, their children Sumaiya, Sadia and Faisal; and driver Hanif Mia.

Police said the microbus, carrying 15 people, including two children and four women, was going to Rajshahi’s Shah Makhdum shrine from Rangpur’s Pirgonj.

A Dhaka-bound bus of Hanif Paribahan from Rajshahi collided with the microbus head-on. 

“The gas cylinder inside the microbus exploded on impact, killing 11 of its passengers on the spot,” said Rajshahi Metropolitan Police’s Spokesperson Additional Deputy Commissioner Golam Ruhul Kuddus.

Eight of the injured were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. Six of them succumbed to their injuries.

Two survivors are undergoing treatment at RMCH.

Road accidents in Bangladesh

Road accidents claim hundreds of lives every year in Bangladesh.

In January this year, at least 484 people were killed in 427 road crashes.

According to Road Safety Foundation (RSF), accident rates jumped by 25.58 percent and fatalities by 8.76 percent in January compared to the same period last year.

Also read: 3 dead in Jashore, Panchagarh road accidents

At least 445 lives were lost in 340 road accidents in January 2020, according to RSF.

In a report released in February 2020, the World Bank said that Bangladesh needed to invest an estimated extra $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities.

The report attributed the high death rate on Bangladesh’s roads to a lack of investments in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes.