9 killed in road crashes
Six members of a family, including a newborn, were killed in a road accident in Mymensingh yesterday. The crash also claimed the life of the driver of the CNG-run auto-rickshaw the family was on.
In another road accident in Pabna's Ishwardi upazila yesterday morning, two workers of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant lost their lives and three others were injured.
According to a Road Safety Foundation report released yesterday, at least 464 people were killed and 513 injured in 402 road accidents throughout the country in December last year.
The accident that killed the six family members and the driver took place in Mymensingh's Tarakanda upazila on the Mymensingh-Netrakona road in the afternoon.
The family were returning home from hospital after the birth of the child.
The victims were identified as Maulana Faruq Ahmed, 35, his wife Masuma Khatun, 25, their five-day old male child; Faruq's elder brother Nizam Uddin, 45, younger sister Julekha Khatun, 22, sister-in-law Joshna Begum, 40, and driver Rakibul Hasan, 29.
Maulana Faruq hailed from Fechualendi village in Netrakona's Purbadhala upazila and used to work at a madrasa in Dhaka. Rakibul was from Char Laxmipur village in Mymensingh sadar upazila, police said.
Quoting locals, Officer-in-Charge of Tarakanda Police Station Md Abul Khayer said the accident took place when a Mymensingh-bound bus from Netrakona collided head-on with the CNG-run auto-rickshaw, killing the seven on the spot around 1:00pm.
The bus collided with the auto-rickshaw when the bus driver was overtaking another vehicle at high speed, said the OC quoting locals.
The CNG-run auto-rickshaw from Mymensingh was heading for Purbadhala upazila in Netrakona, said the OC.
On information, police went to the spot, recovered the bodies and handed them over to family members, said the OC. Police seized the bus but its driver managed to flee the scene.
Locals said the area was gripped by gloom following the incident, the tragic nature of which they said they had not experienced before.
Sarwar Jahan Khan Masud, local union parishad member, said it was a great loss for the family and the locality as well as Maulana Faruq was a well-known and well-liked person in the locality.
Maulana Faruq's nephew Masum Ahmed said the baby, the couple's first child, was born at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital five days ago and they were returning home on the auto-rickshaw from the hospital.
In Pabna, the accident happened when a locally made three-wheeler known as Nasiman veered off into a roadside ditch.
The deceased are Md Abdul Khaleque, 32, of Damukdia village and Anisur Rahman, 31, of Ajgar Ali village in Kushtia's Veramara upazila.
Officer-in-Charge of Ishwardi Police Station Sheikh Md Nasir Uddin said a few Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant workers were coming to the project in the morning on the three-wheeler, when the driver lost control near the Lalon Shah Bridge intersection in Ishwardi and the vehicle veered into a ditch.
The victims died on the spot while three others were injured, and were later admitted to Ishwardi upazila health complex, the OC said.
The driver fled the scene after the incident, the OC added.
Md Abdul Khaleque is a worker of MAX, a sub-contracting firm in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant and Anisur Rahman worked for Ruinworld, another firm working in Rooppur Power Plant, sources said.
Md Ruhul Kuddus, in-charge of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant site office, said they came to know of the matter but the accident had happened outside the project. No case was filed over the incident till filing of this report.
(Our correspondents from Mymensingh and Pabna contributed to the report)
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