A day after a horrific road accident in Goplaganj that left nine people dead, four people including three members of a family were killed in another road crash on Rajshahi-Naogaon highway in Paba upazila on Sunday. The deceased were identified as Aktar Hossain,35, his wife Bithi khatun,33, their daughter Mariam Jannat,4, of Niamatpur upazila and Abdul Mannan, 48 of Manda upazila in Naogaon district Jahangir Alam, sub-inspector of Paba Police Station, said the accident occurred around 10:30 am near Aman Cold Storage when a soil-laden tractor hit two motorbikes coming from the opposite direction, leaving three people dead on the spot and another injured. READ: Unidentified youth killed in train Accident “Abdul Mannan, one of the bike riders and Mariam, Bithi pillion of another bike died on the spot. Mariam’s father Aktar was taken to Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries later around 5 pm,” said the SI The family was heading towards Rajshahi to attend a wedding ceremony. The bodies will be handed over to family after autopsy,” he said. Earlier, on Saturday, Nine people, including three couple, were killed and 30 others injured when a bus hit a car and then ploughed into a bike and a couple operating a paddy-cutting machine on a farm land along the Dhaka-Khulna highway in Gopalganj district Road accidents in Bangladesh continue to claim hundreds of lives every year. As many as 543 people, including 81 children, were killed and 612 others injured in 427 road accidents in April, the Road Safety Foundation said in its latest report, released on May 7. The non-government organisation said 206 lives were lost in 189 motorcycle accidents, which is 37.93% of the total deaths. Also, 116 pedestrians and 87 drivers and their assistants were killed in March accidents. On the other hand, accidents on waterways claimed at least eight lives while 23 were killed and five injured in train accidents across Bangladesh last month.

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.