6 die as bus rams truck, falls in ditch

Six people were killed and 13 others injured when a bus fell into a roadside ditch after it collided head-on with a stone-laden truck at Jummerghar in Gaibandha's Gobindaganj yesterday morning.

Four of the deceased were identified as Abdul Wahab Mandol, 26, of Dharmapal village in Nilphamari, Ashraful Islam, 27, of Dinajpur's Kansama upazila, Shapla Begum, 28, of Ballamjhar village in Gaibandha Sadar, and her six-year-old boy Abdul Alim.

The identities of the two others could not be known immediately.

Abul Bashar, officer-in-charge of Gobindaganj Highway Police Station, said the accident occurred when the Saidpur-bound bus from Dhaka collided head-on with the truck coming from the opposite direction on Bogra-Rangpur highway around 5:00am. On impact, the bus fell into the roadside ditch, killing four bus passengers on the spot and wounding 15 others.

The injured were taken to Gobindaganj Upazila Health Complex where two of them died. Five critically injured were later shifted to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogra.

Soon after the accident, police and firefighters rushed to the spot and rescued the passengers trapped inside the bus.