11 killed as bus ploughs thru' roadside market
At least 11 people were killed and 30 others were injured when an intercity bus veered off the Barisal-Dhaka highway and ploughed through people at a roadside market at Ichhladi in Wazirpur upazila of Barisal yesterday.
At least five human hauliers were crushed in the accident that happened around 6:00pm.
Of the wounded, 23 were being treated at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital. Some were in critical conditions, and police said the number of casualty might rise.
Several of the critically injured were moved to hospitals in Dhaka for better treatment late last night.
In the capital, a car rammed into a parked police van which left the lone passenger of the car dead and four others, including a policeman and two Ansar members, injured at Shaheenbagh early yesterday.
The dead in the Barisal accident are: Mamun Akhand, a honours student of BM College, Jahangir Hossain, a three-wheeler driver, Yunus Akhand, Nil Sharif, Matiur Rahman, Selim, Harun Mia, Mozammel Hossain, Sohag, Munni Begum and Jewel Mia, said Officer-in-Charge Anwar Hossain of Wazirpur Police Station.
Agitated locals blocked the highway from 6:00pm to 10:30pm. They threw brick chunks at some vehicles when the vehicles tried to evade the blockade. Police had to charge truncheons on the agitating crowd to disperse them.
Several vehicles had their windows smashed.
It could not be ascertained why the bus, heading for Barisal from Dhaka, lost control but police and locals speculated that brake failure could be the reason.
In Dhaka, Jannati Hossain, a private university student, was driving a car to go to Dhanmondi with her friend from Uttara around 1:00am. Coming down the ramp of Mohakhali flyover, the car slammed into a parked police van, leaving her friend KM Mustamsir Ashraf, 27, seriously injured, police said.
Law student Mustamsir, who owns the car, was whisked off to nearby Ayesha Memorial Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Jannati suffered minor injuries and had primary treatment at the hospital, police added.
Quoting Jannati, Sub-Inspector of Tejgaon Police Station Mahabubur Rahman said she lost control over the steering wheel and hit the police van. She was driving the car recklessly, the SI claimed.
The Daily Star could not speak to Jannati or her family.
Police constable Abul Hossain, and Ansar members Forkan Uddin and Abdur Razzak who were inside the van suffered injuries, said Mazharul Islam, officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station.
Police seized the car and arrested Jannati. She was produced before a Dhaka court yesterday where she made a confessional statement.
The court sent her to jail and set tomorrow for a hearing, he added.
Mazharul said the car hit the police van from behind and the impact rolled the van onto the pavement.
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