road accident
Three killed in Cumilla road crash
Three people were killed as a truck hit a battery-run auto-rickshaw in Palpara area of Cumilla Sadar upazila on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Helal Mia, 60, Matin Mia, 65, and Abdul Kader, 70.
Officer-in-Charge of Kotwali Police Station Md Anwarul Haque said the truck hitthea Mainamati bound auto-rickshaw at 9:30 am, leaving its two passengers dead on the spot and injuring some others.
Later, one of the injured passengers died on the way to a hospital.
Dhaka-Khulna highway turns death trap
The 35 kilometre stretch between Faridpur Sadar and Kamarkhali Bridge in Madhukhali on the Dhaka-Khulna highway has become a virtual death trap for commuters.
In the past 13 months, at least 30 people have reportedly died in different road accidents on the high-speed corridor. Apart from claiming lives, road crashes on the stretch have caused permanent disabilities in hundreds of victims.
Also read: 8 killed in separate road crashes in Faridpur 2 Shares
What's worrying is that accidents and fatalities are on the rise on the stretch despite the local police setting up a number of check posts in accident-prone areas to curb speeding.
On March 21 this year, as many as nine people, including six members of a family, were killed in a collision between a microbus and a truck at Majhkandi on the Dhaka-Khulna highway. All the victims were from Jhenaidah district.
On January 6, 2020, six people, including four members of a family, lost their lives on the same highway when a bus rammed a microbus at high speed.
Read 17 killed Rajshahi road accident
Cops attribute the rise in the number of accidents on the highway to speeding as well as careless and negligent driving.
Superintendent of Faridpur Highway Police, Mostafizur Rahman, told UNB that a number of check posts have been set up on the highway. "But nothing seems to be working."
"Despite accidents on the highway stretch claiming a number of lives every year, there's no end to motorists' fetish for speed," he added.
Also read: Bangladesh's roads remain perilous; 37,170 killed in 5 years
Advocate Shipra Goswami, however, said that "stricter enforcement of law is the need of the hour". "Those involved in reckless driving should be brought to book."
Mohammad Kabirul Islam Siddique, president of Faridpur Press Club, agreed. “Police must strictly enforce traffic rules to curb speeding and accidents on the highway. At the same time, motorists should adhere to speed limits," he said.
Shahrier Rumi, executive engineer of Faridpur Roads and Highways Department, also urged motorists and other occupants of vehicles to stay alert while using the highway.
The highway also known as N7 connects the Daulatdia Ferry Terminal on the south bank of the Padma River near Dhaka with the Port of Mongla in Bagerhat district. It serves some of the largest cities and towns in southwestern Bangladesh, including Faridpur, Magura, Jhenaidah, Jessore, and Khulna.
Also read: 3 dead in Jashore, Panchagarh road accidents
17 killed Rajshahi road accident
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.
4 killed in Chattogram road crash
Four passengers were killed and three more were injured as two CNG autorickshaws collided with a truck at Rangunia upazila on the Chattogram-Kaptai road.
The incident took place around 8pm on Thursday (March 25) in the Kalugotta area of Chandraghona-Kadamtali union in Rangunia.
Also read: 7 dead, 10 injured in four different road accidents across the country
The deceased were identified as Daisy Dutt (35), Abul Kalam (7), Md. Akbar Hossain (25) and child Adrish Souma.
Rangunia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mahabub Milki said the two CNG autorickshaws collided with a Chattogram-bound truck from Chandraghona area of Rangamati at Balugutta. Four passengers were taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital in critical condition and the on-duty doctor declared them dead.
Also Read: Bangladesh's roads remain perilous; 37,170 killed in 5 years
He added that the bodies were kept in the morgue of the hospital and the injured are being treated.
Driver arrested over two musicians’ death in road accident
Highway police have arrested a lorry driver in connection with a case filed over the death of two musicians in a road accident at Mirsarai upazila in Chattogram.
Two die as tractor overturns in Panchagarh
Two persons died while another sustained injuries after a tractor they were travelling in overturned in the Kamlapur area of Panchagarh Sadar upazila early on Friday morning.
Rakib killing: Father alleges murder recorded as road accident, demands justice
Family members of school student Ifran Khan Rakib, who was killed in the city’s Hatirjheel area in July 2019, demanded exemplary punishment of the killers through bringing them under justice.
4 killed in two road accidents
At least four persons have been killed in two separate road accidents in Khulna and Satkhira in the past 24 hours, police said Saturday.
5 killed, 23 injured in bus-truck collision in Sirajganj
At least five people were killed and 23 others were injured in a head-on-collision between a bus and a truck at Konabari in Kamarkhand upazila of Sirajganj district on Tuesday.
3 Bangladeshi students killed in Canada road accident
Three Bangladeshi students were killed in car accident in Manitoba, Canada on Thursday morning (local time) while returning from a trip to see the northern lights.