Four passengers of a private car, all from the same family, were killed after the vehicle was crushed under a cement-laden lorry at Paduar Bazar on the Dhaka–Chittagong highway in Comilla on Friday noon.
The accident occurred around 12:30pm in front of the Rural Electrification Board office at Paduar Bazar Bishwa Road in Comilla Sadar Dokkhin upazila.
The deceased were identified as Mohammad Omar Ali, 80, his wife Nurjahan Begum, 65, their elder son Abul Hashem, 50, who was driving the private car and another son Abul Kashem, 45.
They were residents of Hosenpur village under Barura upazila in Comilla’s Laksam area.
The information was confirmed by Sub-Inspector Anisur Rahman of Moynamati Highway police station.
Constable Saiful Islam, who took part in the rescue operation, said a bus attempted to cross the Dhaka-bound lane of the highway by driving in the wrong direction through the U-turn at Paduar Bazar.
At that moment, a cement-laden lorry coming from the opposite direction swerved to avoid the bus, overturned and crushed both a private car and a CNG auto-rickshaw behind it.
Four passengers of a CNG-run auto-rickshaw were also injured after being trapped under the lorry.
They were rushed to a local hospital.
Officer-in-Charge of Moynamati Highway police station, Iqbal Bahar Majumdar, said police have recovered the bodies and the wrecked private car and taken them to the police station.
The bodies will be handed over to the families after completing legal formalities.
