At least 17 people were killed and 60 others injured in separate road accidents in Sirajganj and Rajshahi on Tuesday.
In Sirajganj, nine people including eight of a family were killed and 10 others injured as an empty tank-lorry collided head-on with a three-wheeler on Nagarbari-Bogra highway in Shahjadpur.
Hatikumrul highway police officer-in-charge Abdul Kader Jilani said the accident took place at Garadaha around 6:30am when the Ullapara-bound three-wheeler (locally known as Nasiman) from Shahjadpur was hit by the lorry.
The accident left the Nasiman driver, Abdus Sobhan, 35, and four of its passengers dead on the spot. Three others died on the way to Shahjadpur Upazila Health Complex and another on the way to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogra.
The injured were admitted to the health complex and the medical college hospital.
The three-wheeler was running illegally amid a ban on plying on the highway.
Police seized the lorry but its driver and his assistant managed to flee, Abdul Kader said.
Other victims are Ajifa Begum, 60, Jalal Uddin, 40, his wife Anjana Khatun, 25, Firoza Begum, 35, Renu Khatun, 40, Bonna Khatun, 10, Mokbul Hossain, 40, and Purni Khatun, 18, of Shahjadpur.
Sirajganj deputy commissioner Md Billal Hossain, along with others, visited the spot. He announced a donation of Tk 20,000 for each of the families of the deceased. The administration will also carry out the medical expenses of the injured, he said.
Tank Lorry Owners Association also announced to give Tk 25,000 to each of the deceased family.
In another accident at the same place, an unknown schoolgirl was killed when a bus rammed a Compressed Natural Gas-run auto-rickshaw this noon.
Shahjadpur police officer-in-charge (investigation) Monir Hossain said the accident took place around 12:30pm when a Dhaka-bound bus of Night Star Paribahan from Pabna hit the auto-rickshaw from behind leaving the schoolgirl dead on the spot.
In Rajshahi, seven more people were killed and 50 others injured when two buses collided head-on and at the same time hit two other battery-run auto-rickshaws on Rajshahi-Dhaka highway at Katakhali on the outskirts of the city.
Officer-in-charge of Motihar police station Humayun Kabir told New Age that a Rajshahi-bound bus of National Enterprise hit a Natore-bound bus of Arpa Paribahan near Fruit Research Centre around 1:00pm.
The buses also rammed two other auto-rickshaws simultaneously.
Two bus drivers — Shahidul Islam Shahid, 50, and Mintu Mia , 45, died on the spot. Five others — Lubna Sheikh, Abdul Jafor, 65, his wife Beli Begum, 60, Moyen Uddin, 70, and Abu Bakkar Siddique, 65 — died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
The injured were admitted to the same hospital.
Locals blocked the highway immediate after the accident. Police later cleared the highway for traffic around 3:00pm, the OC said.
Rajshahi deputy commissioner Mezbah Uddin Choudhury told New Age that they would give compensation to each of the victim’s family but amount was not fixed immediately.
Source: New Age
