10 killed as bus hits tree
At least 10 people have been killed and 16 others injured after the bus they were travelling in hit a roadside tree at Jhikorgachha in Jessore early yesterday.
In another accident, five people were killed in a head-on collision between a truck and an auto-rickshaw on Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Brahmanbaria yesterday afternoon.
Passengers of the Benapole-bound night coach of Shohagh Paribahan from Dhaka alleged that the driver fell asleep at the wheel before hitting the tree. Most of the deceased were carrying their passports with them, aiming to travel to India through the border crossing at Benapole.
Mosharrof Hossain, officer-in-charge of Jhikorgachha Police Station, said six passengers, including a woman, died on the spot after the bus hit the tree at Godkhali around 6:30am.
They are Ronjon Pal, son of Dilip Pal of Nobabgonj, Jamal Uddin, 40, son of Bojlur Rahman of Demra, Biddyut Ghosh, 45, son of Basudev Ghosh of Goyalnagar lane in Dhaka, Mominuddin, son of Anowar Ali of Comilla and Nirmol Chandro Saha, 55, and his wife Hena Saha, 40, of Kishoreganj.
Soon after the accident, the injured were rushed to Jhikorgachha Upazila Health Complex and Jessore Medical College and Hospital.
Salam, 30, of Munshiganj, Prosenjit Pal, 34, son of Ronojit Pal of Shariatpur, and Romjan Ali, 35, of Dholaikhal in Dhaka, died from their injuries at the Jessore hospital.
Bus helper Abdul Momin, who hailed from Baliakandi in Rajbari, succumbed to his injuries at the health complex.
The impact left the front end of the bus smashed and its roof sheared off, the OC said, adding that the driver might have fallen asleep and lost control over the steering.
Mithun, the driver, was injured in the accident but escaped, Md Monir Hossain, a representative of Shohagh, told the Daily Star over the telephone after visiting the spot.
"More passengers would have died if the driver had not gained his control over the steering after hitting the tree and avoid hitting another," he said.
Rakib, one of the injured, told journalists in Jessore that after crossing the Paturia-Doulatdia ferry terminal, the bus picked up speed.
Some passengers forbade the driver not to overtake other buses while driving recklessly, but he ignored them.
Reshma Sharmin, assistant superintendent of Jessore police, confirmed the crash at Godkhali, around 10 kilometres off Benapole.
Among the injured, Jhontu, 35 of North Golapbag, Horidas Saha of Nobabgonj, Rakib, 30, Suman, 30, Jony Ghosh, 35, Ronojit Sarkar, 35, Gatali Ghosh, 45, Rubi, 30, Moyna, 35, and Walid, 30 of Bikrompur in Dhaka, are undergoing treatment at the Jessore hospital.
B'BARIA CRASH
Five people were killed when a Dhaka-bound truck from Sylhet collided head-on with a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Sarail around 3:15pm, said Ali Arshad, OC of Sarail Police Station.
The deceased were passengers of the auto-rickshaw, he said. They are Mizan, 40, his wife Nilufa Begum, 29, their son Zubayer, 4, Mahfuz, 25, and his son Masum, 6. All of them hailed from Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila.
Police later seized the truck and detained its driver. Protesting the accident, locals put up barricades on the highway which disrupted communication on the route for at least half an hour, the OC added.
(Our correspondents in Jessore and Brahmanbaria contributed to this report)
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