70-km tailback clogs Dhaka-Tangail highway

Dhaka-Tangail highway is overwhelmed with vehicles and people during a 15-hour long jam that stretches for at least 70km on Friday. Photo: Star

Hundreds of passengers remain stuck for around 15 hours in a 70-kilometre tailback on the Dhaka-Tangail highway after a bus broke down in Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur Friday.

The gridlock created from KaliakairBridge to BangabandhuBridge in Tangail as the engine of a bus broke down around 2:00am, said Kamruzzaman Raj, sub-inspector of Gorai Highway Police.

The bus was removed from the road within an hour, reports our correspondent in Tangail quoting the police official.

Meanwhile, hundreds of vehicles got stuck on the busy highway causing severe sufferings to thousands of passengers till filling of this report at noon.

Nonstop downpour, heavy rush of vehicles carrying work-bound people after their Eid vacation and also Jamaat-e-Islami-sponsored 48-hour countrywide shutdown from August 13 also contributed to the tailback, police said.