4 of a family killed in road crash

Five passengers, including four of a family, of an ambulance met a tragic end to their lives when it collided head-on with a truck in Kushtia Sadar upazila yesterday.

The victims were Mofiz Uddin, 57, his wife Arbi Khatun, 45, son Mohammad Ifat, 27, brother-in-law Mohammad Ali, and ambulance driver Tipu Sultan, 38.

Mofiz was from Daratana of Jashore town and driver Tipu from Narail's Lohagara upazila.

Mofiz's another brother-in-law Insan Ali, who was injured in the accident, was undergoing treatment at Kushtia Medical College Hospital.

Mofiz, his son and two brothers of his wife went to Pabna Mental Hospital to receive his wife. He hired the ambulance from Jashore.

Quoting the victims' relatives, Atiqul Islam, assistant superintendent of police (Kushtia Sadar circle), said Arbi became mentally unstable two years ago. She was admitted to Pabna Mental Hospital last year.

The police officer said the ambulance started its journey from Pabna to return to Jashore about 2:00pm.

He said the ambulance was involved in a head-on collision with the truck of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation of Kushtia at Bittipara on Kushtia-Khulna highway around 3:30pm. The truck, laden with sacks of fertilisers, was coming from Jashore, he added,

The ambulance's front end was completely destroyed. All the five died on the spot.

Mostafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Islamic University Police Station, said they were trying to arrest the truck driver, who went into hiding.