Atleast 26 people were killed in road accidents with many others injured in various districts of the country yesterday.
Eight people including four of the same family were killed when a train rammed into a CNG-run autorickshaw at a rail-crossing at Hyderabad of Dakkhinkhan area in Gazipur yesterday around 2:45pm.
The deceased are Shah Alam, 27, his wife Peyara Begum, 21, their son Yasin, 4, daughter Sadiya, 6, Peyara’s sister Sofura, 12, Shah Alam’s cousin Al Amin, 27, his neighbour Liton Miya, 22, and the autorickshaw driver Mostofa, 20.
Tongi railway police outpost in-charge Sub-Inspector (SI) Alauddin said: “The DEMU train from Dhaka hit the autorickshaw when it was at the rail-crossing. The autorickshaw got stuck to the train engine and was carried along about half a kilometre, after which the engine driver was able to stop the train. The locals then pulled off the autorickshaw from the train. Seven of the bodies were found strewn along the half-kilometre stretch; the driver’s body was stuck inside the autorickshaw.”
The SI said that the rail-crossing had no signal bar as it did not have approval from the authorities. Police from Joydebpur junction outpost, Joydebpur police station and members of the fire service recovered the bodies and sent them to Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital morgue.
Uncle of deceased Al Amin, Shukkur Ali, said Shah Alam and Peyara were returning home to Khailkur from Narsingdi after the Eid holidays.
Amzad Hossain, a real estate businessman of Dakkhinkhan area, said: “At least eight more people were killed at this rail-crossing before. All the railway authorities did was put up a concrete sign that warned everyone to use the crossing with caution.
Joydebpur railway junction Master Shahidul Islam said: “There are 13 such unapproved rail-crossings across the rail line from Tongi to Joydebpur. The ward councillors of the local city corporation made these crossings to meet the need of the local residents, and the responsibility to look after these crossings is theirs. We face trouble if we talk about these.”
Kamalapur Railway police station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Majid said legal action would be taken against the autorickshaw driver as he used the illegal crossing.
Bangladesh Railway regional manager of Dhaka Arifuzzaman told journalists that the unapproved rail-crossings are not level crossings. He said he had information that this is the first time an autorickshaw used that crossing. A special team from BR would be inspecting the site of incident, he added.
In another incident in Munshiganj, our correspondent reported seven people were killed and 12 others were injured as a Mawa-bound bus rammed into a Dhaka-bound four-wheeler, locally known as Leguna, on the Dhaka-Mawa highway at Nimtoli of Sirajdikhan upazila on Wednesday evening.
The deceased are Leguna driver Ershad, 32, Rabbaj Mia’s son Russell, 30, Russell’s wife Seema Begum, Russell’s niece Alo, 10, Shipra Mandal, 28, Alamin, 14, and Madhuri Akter, 18.
After the accident, agitated people vandalised several vehicles and blocked the highway for an hour. The wounded are admitted to different hospitals.
Confirming this news Munshiganj ASP Md Samsuzzaman said, “Four died on the spot, Alo died on the way to hospital, and two others died in the hospital. The bus and the Leguna have been seized but the bus driver fled the scene.”
In Tangail, six people including women died in a bus accident when a bus of Binimoy Paribahan, while coming to Dhaka, lost control and fell into a ditch near Baoikhola area of the Dhaka-Tangail highway, reports our Tangail correspondent. The incident took place around 3:15pm.
Traffic Sergeant Asad of Tangail said the deceased could not be identified immediately. The injured were taken to Tangail Medical College Hospital; the death toll may increase, he said adding that the rescue work is still ongoing.
Tangail deputy commissioner announced that each of the family of the deceased would be compensated with Tk20,000 and the injured would be paid their medical expenses.
Our correspondent in Sylhet reports a similar bus accident there claimed the lives of three including two women. A surviving passenger said the bus, travelling towards Sylhet from Brahmanbaria, suddenly lost control near a primary school in Osmani Nagari and fell into the roadside ditch around 12pm. He said the bus was carrying excess passengers.
Sylhet Superintendent of Police Nur-e-Alam Mina confirmed the deaths of two women and a man in the incident and said their identities could not yet be confirmed.
In another incident, two people were killed and three others injured when a bus and a CNG autorickshaw collided head-on in the Islamabad area of Sarail upazila of Brahmanbaria on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway. The incident occurred around 10:30am yesterday, reports our correspondent.
The deceased are Darbesh Ali, 38, of Brahmanbaria; and Inzamamul Haq, 22, a third-year philosophy student of Brahmanbaria Government College and son of Enamul Haq from Madhabpur upazila in Habiganj.
Sarail Khatihata Highway Police Sergeant Jahangir Alam said a bus of Shyamoli Paribahan going to Sylhet hit the oncoming CNG autorickshaw, killing the two autorickshaw passengers on the spot. The bus have been taken into custody, he added.