A pickup van driver and his assistant were killed in Lalpur upazila of Natore early Tuesday as a pickup van collided with a bus on Natore-Pabna highway. The deceased were identified as driver Apon Mia, and his assistant Moazzem, both from Tangail district, said sub-inspector Firoz Ahsan, in-charge of Banpara highway police station.  Also read:3 BAEC officials among 6 killed in Savar road crash The accident occurred around 2 am when the Tangail-bound pickup van collided with the Pabna- bound bus, leaving Apon and Moazzem severely injured.  They were taken to Boraigram Health Complex where doctors announced them dead in the morning, said the SI. Also read: Out on joyride to visit Padma Bridge, 5 killed in Keraniganj road crash

Commuters had a harrowing time on Wednesday morning as rush-hour traffic crawled on the Natore-Pabna highway clogged with a long tailback stretching over 20km. Police attributed the snarls on the high-speed corridor to the huge pressure of vehicles on the roads in the wake of the government easing the Covid-19 lockdown curbs. Also, repair work on the railway tracks passing through the area added to the woes of the motorists. Read: 25 km long tailback on Dhk-Ctg highway Mozaffar Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Banpara Highway police station, said that the railway authorities shut the Muladuli level crossing on Tuesday morning to carry out the repair work, forcing people to take a detour via the highway. Traffic on the highway, however, normalised around noon after the railway authorities opened the level crossing following the repair work, said the OC.