2 army men die, 14 hurt in road crash

A bus of an army convoy collided head on with a goods-laden truck at Acchimtola of Mirzapur upazila in Tangail yesterday killing two privates on the spot and injuring 14 others, three of them critically.
The convoy of five buses was heading towards Dhaka from Bogra Cantonment with around 200 soldiers, who were supposed to join the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in Congo, police sources said.
The dead were identified as Mohammad Ali, 40, of Alipur of Kalihati upazila in Tangail and Mohammad Joinal Abedin, 35, of Paschim Lalpur of Kabelpur upazila in Noakhali.
SM Badrul Alam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Mirzapur Police Station, told The Daily Star that the truck heading for Tangail from Dhaka collided head on with the bus on Dhaka-Tangail highway around 11:30am, leaving the two soldiers dead on the spot.
The injured army personnel were rushed to Mirzapur Kumudini Hospital and later shifted to Dhaka by a helicopter.
The injured army personnel are Selim Miah, Abdullah-al-Mamun, Mohammad Habib, Abu Zafar, Mohammad Humayun, Saiful Islam, Salam Miah, Ikbal Hossain, Mohammad Babul, Mizanur Rahman, Jahangir Hossain, Mohammad Shahidullah and Corporal Kalam.
Of the injured, private Selim Miah, private Abdullah-al-Mamun, and private Habib were in critical condition. However, around 26 more soldiers were injured in the accident and they were released after receiving first aid, Kumudini Hospital sources said.
Mirzapur police rushed to the spot, recovered the bodies and sent them to Tangail General Hospital morgue for autopsy. They also seized the truck and arrested its driver.
The soldiers were travelling on five private buses requisitioned by the army, police sources said.