At least seven people, including a police member and four suspected criminals, have been killed and 13 others injured in a head-on collision between a human haulier and a covered van in Gazipur.
Of the deceased, four have been identified as Police Constable Mostafa Kamal, 58, and accused in different cases Momin Uddin, 32, Sohel Rana, 27, and Manik Miah, 30.
The human haulier was carrying four police officials and 13 detainees accused in different cases and was on its way to a Gazipur court from Sreepur Model police station when the accident happened, said Zahidul Islam, OC of investigation at the police station.
The accident took place around 4pm on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, near Porabari-Masterbari area in Gazipur Sadar upazila, leaving 20 people injured.
All the injured were rushed to Gazipur Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital, where the doctors pronounced the six accused dead.
Later, Constables Ashraful Islam, 42, Anowar Hossain, 25, and Mostafa Kamal, criminals Monir Hossain, 22, and Saiful Islam, 20, and driver of the human haulier Julhas Uddin, 30, were transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where Mostafa died around 6:50pm, said Dr Abdus Salam, resident doctor at the Gazipul hospital.
The rest of the injured were provided treatment at the hospital in Gazipur.
Witnesses said Momin was driving the human haulier at the time of the accident, even though its original driver Julhas was present.
Sreepur police station OC Motaleb Miah was closed and a three-member committee headed by Additional Police Superintendent Delowar Hossain to investigate the accident, said Gazipur Police Superintendent Harun-or-Rashid.
The probe committee have been instructed to submit the probe report in three workdays, he said.
State Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal visited the injured at the DMCH around 7:30pm.
“I do not know the details of the accident yet. But we are investigating why why such an accident happened, and whoever is found responsible will be punished accordingly,” he said.