Five people were killed and another five were injured in a head-on collision between a pickup and an ambulance carrying a cancer patient in Tangail.
The accident tookplace on Saturday morning, when the fish-laden pickup van crashed into the ambulance on the east side of the Bangabandhu Bridge in Hatia area under the district’s Kalihati upazila.
The deceased were identified as Farida, 45, a cancer patient from Chittagong, her daughter Maria, 9, Farida’s elder sister Ferdousi Begum, ambulance driver Sajjam, 30, and his assistant Jewel.
According to police, locals, and family members of the deceased, Farida was being taken to the Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College and Hospital in Enayetpur, Sirajganj, for chemotherapy.
On the way, near the Hatia area of the highway, the ambulance carrying the patient and her family members collided head-on with a pickup van coming from the opposite direction.
Three people, including the driver of the ambulance, were killed on the spot.
Police and Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel immediately rescued the injured, a total seven of them, and rushed them to Tangail General Hospital for treatment.
Two of the injured succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.
Locals blamed speeding for the accident.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Bangabandhu Bridge East police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shafiqul Islam said: “After receiving news of the accident, we rescued the injured and send them to the hospital. The wreckage of the vehicles involved in the accident has been removed from the highway.
“Necessary legal steps will be taken regarding this matter upon further investigation,” the OC added.