Nine killed in road accidents across five districts

Nine people were killed in five separate road accidents in Sylhet, Cox’s Bazar, Natore, Kishoreganj and Bogura today (22 August), with four members of a family among the dead.

In Sylhet, four people, including three members of the same family, were killed when a CNG-run auto-rickshaw collided head-on with an oil tanker on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Osmaninagar around 2:30pm.

The deceased were Niamat Ali, his wife and daughter, all from Shriramshi village in Jagannathpur, and three-wheeler driver Lalon Mia.

Police said the auto-rickshaw was travelling from Sherpur towards Sylhet when it collided with the tanker coming from the opposite direction in Brahmangram. The vehicle sustained significant damage as a result of the collision.

Locals rescued the driver and seven passengers and took them to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared four dead. Police reported that several others sustained injuries, and legal proceedings are currently in progress.

In Cox’s Bazar, an 11-year-old fifth-grade madrasa student, Tanha Moni, was tragically killed in Chakaria in the morning.

She was travelling in an auto-rickshaw with several other children when the vehicle overturned while giving way to a sand-laden truck at Kahariaghona. Tanha fell from the vehicle and came under the truck’s wheels, dying on the spot.

Tanha was a student at Magbazar Mohila Madrasa in Chakaria municipality and the daughter of Mawlana Jafar Alam of South Kahariaghona. Police said legal action was underway.

In Natore, Sabbir Hossain, 23, and auto-van driver Abu Sayeed, 45, were killed around 1:30pm when a Shishir Paribahan bus travelling from Rajshahi to Dhaka hit their battery-run auto-van from behind in the Barohorshipur bypass area.

Police said the impact threw the driver and passenger onto the road, after which they were run over by the bus. Both victims died instantly at the scene. Police recovered their bodies and sent them to the Natore General Hospital mortuary.

In Kishoreganj, Nuruzzaman, 60, was killed when a private car hit him while he was crossing the Dhaka-Kishoreganj highway in Bahadia, Pakundia, in the morning.

He suffered serious head injuries and died on the way to hospital after locals rescued him. The Officer-in-Charge of Pakundia Police Station, S M Arifur Rahman, confirmed the incident.

In Bogura, BGB member Rafiqul Islam was killed around 9:30am after a speeding truck hit him while he was crossing the Rangpur-Bogura highway near Mokamtala Bus Stand in Shibganj.

Rafiqul, who served at the Patnitala BGB camp in Naogaon, died on the spot. Police recovered his body and are trying to identify the truck and arrest its driver. Legal proceedings are underway.