A man and his daughter were crushed to death when a truck laden with cement ploughed into their house in Santhia upazila, police said Saturday.
The accident occurred around 9.30pm on Friday night when 37-year-old Shah Babu, a day wager, and his family were having dinner at their home at Bhitapara. Shah and his 12-year-old daughter Brishti Khatun died on the spot.
Mohammad Asaduzzaman, officer-in-charge of Santhia police station, said the truck coming from the Nagarbari side crashed into the house after its driver lost control of the speeding vehicle.
"Luckily, Babu’s wife Lucky Khaun, 32 and their three-year-old son Sagar escaped unhurt," he said. "The bodies have been sent for an autopsy."
Police have seized the truck but its driver and helper managed to flee.
Road accident in Bangladesh
Road accidents are one of the leading causes of deaths in Bangladesh, as 37,170 people were killed in 26,902 accidents across the country in the past five years.
Besides, 82,758 people were injured in these accidents, according to a report released by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS), a passenger welfare body, marking the National Roads Safety Day on October 22, last year.
According to the report, 8,642 people were killed and 21,855 injured in 6,581 road accidents in 2015 alone. In 2016, some 6,055 people were killed and 15,914 injured in 4,312 road accidents.
Besides, 7,397 people were killed and 16,193 injured in 4,979 accidents in 2,017 while 7,221 people were killed and 15,466 were injured in 5,514 accidents in 2018. And 7,855 people were killed and 13,330 injured in 5,516 accidents in 2019, the report said.
These figures show that the number of casualties in road accidents in Bangladesh is increasing due to reckless driving and overtaking in a dangerous manner, according to the report.
As per a World Bank report, published in February 2020, Bangladesh needs to invest an estimated extra $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities.
The report attributed the high death rate on Bangladesh roads to a chronic lack of investment in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes.
