Three of the deceased were identified as Selim Mia, 25, son of Taher Ali of Chandgao Tingharia area of Nalitabari upazila, Roksana Begum, 30, wife of Rafiqul Islam of Naljora area and Jobed Ali, 25, son of Yusuf Ali of Bandadhara in Sadar upazila.
Abdullah Al Manun, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station, said the accident occurred around 8:45am when the truck hit a auto-rickshaw, leaving three people dead on the spot and injured three others.
The injured were taken to Sherpur District Hospital where another victim succumbed to the injuries later.
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Of the victims, five people were passengers of the auto-rickshaw going to Sherpur from Jhenaigati.
Traffic remained suspended for some time after the accident.
Police rushed to the spot and rescued the victims after the accident.
Police also seized the bus but could not arrest the driver of the truck as he fled the scene.
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Road accidents in Bangladesh
Road accidents continue to rise in Bangladesh with the country seeing 439 deaths in 417 accidents in November 2020, according to Road Safety Foundation (RSF), an organisation working to ensure safer roads.
RSF said 383 people were killed in 314 accidents in October last.
Nirapad Sarak Chai, a road safety advocacy group, in a report published on January 4, 2020, said that 5,227 people were killed in 4,702 road accidents in Bangladesh in 2019.
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In a report released in February, last year, the World Bank said Bangladesh needs to invest an estimated extra $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities.
The report pointed to the high death rate on Bangladesh’s roads caused by a chronic lack of investment in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes.
A World Bank report published in February, 2020 said Bangladesh needs to invest an estimated extra $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities.
Also Read: Bangladesh needs $7.8bn in additional investment for safer roads
‘Delivering Road Safety in Bangladesh’ pointed to the high death rate on Bangladesh’s roads caused by chronic lack of investment in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes.
It also identifies relevant investment priorities to reverse the trend.
The report said annual road crash deaths per capita in Bangladesh are twice the average rate for high- income countries and five times that of the best-performing countries in the world. It highlights that children and working-age population are most affected by road crash injuries in Bangladesh.
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