In a tragic turn of events, four Bangladeshi expatriates were killed in a road crash in Malaysia after they were returning from an Eid congregation.
The deceased – two of them brothers – are Md Abdullah, 25, his brother Hafez Md Humayun Sohel, 27, Md Sohel, 25, and Md Ashkar Ali, 40. All of them hailed from Brahmanbaria’s Bijoynagar Upazila.
Three of them died on the spot while the fourth victim succumbed to his injuries in a local hospital.
The accident took place at 10:30pm (Malaysia local time) on Wednesday, which marked Eid-ul-Fitr in the country.
However, citing that only three Bangladeshis were killed in the accident, Free Malaysia Today on Wednesday reported that the car they were travelling in was hit by a lorry on the North-South Expressway near the town of Kampar.
Kampar police chief Nazri Daud said the vehicle, which was carrying eight people including the driver, was travelling from Cameron Highlands to Kuala Lumpur.
“The vehicle’s tyre burst and this caused the driver to lose control and crash into the guardrail before it was steered back to the lane.
“A lorry then crashed into its back,” said Nazri.
The car driver and three other passengers and the lorry driver escaped unharmed.
Bernama reported that the crash victims were plantation workers in Cameron Highlands.
As the news broke, a pall of gloom descended on the families of the victims back in Bangladesh, where Eid is being celebrated on Thursday. The families demanded that the government take proper and immediate measures to bring back the corpses at the earliest.
Identifying himself as a distant relative of the deceased, the upazila’s Harashpur Union Parishad resident Md Oliullah said: “They went on an outing after the Eid prayers, which cost them their lives.
“We can’t bear this (shock).”
The man sought the government’s intervention to get the bodies at the quickest time possible.
Bijoynagar police station Officer-in-Charge Asadul Islam said that they, too, came to know about the deaths.
