At least 15 people were killed and several others were injured in separate road accidents in four districts of the country on Wednesday, amid movement restrictions due to the spread of coronavirus.
According to a report, no fewer than 249 people were killed and 385 others injured in 207 road crashes in 12 days until Monday, as people rushed to travel home and return to Dhaka.
The report prepared by Green Club of Bangladesh and the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways states that a greater number of cars and small vehicles plied the roads due to restrictions on inter-district public transportation, resulting in an increase in the number of accidents and fatalities involving small vehicles, including cars.
In Tangail, seven people, including a BGB member, were killed and seven others sustained injuries in three separate road accidents on Dhaka-Tangail Highway on Wednesday.
Of them, three died when a covered van rammed into a microbus near Pakullah bus stand area of the highway in Mirzapur upazila, said Gorai Highway police outpost OC Muzzafar Hossain.
The deceased are Hasan, 30, driver of the microbus, his assistant Emon, 25, and passenger Golam Maula Shamim, 28. Another person sustained injuries from the crash.
“After the Eid holidays, Shamim rented a microbus to return to Brahmanbaria with his wife Meem. On the way, a Dhaka-bound covered van rammed into the vehicle when it reached near Pakullah bus stand. The driver, helper and Shamim died on the spot. Meem, in an injured state, was rescued and sent to Kumudini Hospital for treatment,” the OC said.
Meanwhile, two people on a motorcycle were killed after a bus ran over them on the same highway. The deceased are BGB Sipahi Selim Reja, 36, and his nephew Kamrul, 30.
Police said the two were on their way to Dhaka after the Eid holidays.
Another person was killed and four others were injured when two three-wheelers collided head-on on Ashekpur bypass of the highway. The deceased is Khandaker Afzal Hussain, 38.
The injured were taken to Tangail General Hospital for treatment.
In another incident in the same district, a motorcyclist died after being run over by a truck in the Hamidpur area of Ghatail upazila.
The deceased, Rezaul Karim, 35, was on his way to his workstation in Dhaka when the accident occurred, Ghatail police station SI Rajib Hossain said.
In a separate accident, two people sustained severe injuries when a mini truck lost control on the highway in the Kortial Haat area and fell into a roadside ditch. They were sent to the local state-owned hospital for treatment.
In Feni, four people were killed and another person was critically injured after a pickup van and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw collided on old Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Chhagalnaiya upazila.
They deceased – Md Arif Hossain, Hajera Begum, Kazi Shahidul Islam and Nurul Islam – were passengers of the auto-rickshaw.
Police said the accident occurred when a Korerhat-bound auto-rickshaw coming from Chhagalnaiya collided head-on with a pickup van coming from the opposite direction around 11am.
The injured auto-rickshaw driver, Ayub, 28, was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated, Chhagalnaiya police station OC Shahidul Islam told BSS.
In Gazipur, three people died and another was injured in two separate road accidents.
Of them, two died and another sustained injuries in Sutrapur area when they were going to Mirzapur on a motorcycle and it was run over by a pickup van on Dhaka-Tangail Highway. One of the deceased is Shafik, 36. The injured person is Sajib, 26.
In another incident, a cyclist died after being run over by a covered van in Sreepur upazila. The deceased is Nahid Hasan, 25.
As there was no complaint, the body was handed over without an autopsy to the family of the deceased, said Sreepur police station OC Khandaker Imam Hussain.
The covered van was seized and its driver was kept in police custody.
In Gopalganj, a rickshaw van passenger was killed and its puller was injured after a covered van rammed into the vehicle in Kashiani upazila on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway.
The deceased is Faijar Miah, 34. Swapan Molla, 32, the rickshaw van puller, sustained critical injuries, Vatiapara Highway police SI Monir Ahmed said.
Abdullah Al Numan, Tangail, Raihanul Islam Akand, Gazipur and Manoj Kumar Saha, Gopalganj contributed to this report
