3 killed as pickup, bus collide

At least three people died after a pickup collided head-on with a passenger bus at Dinajpur's Phulbari upazila early yesterday.

The deceased are truck driver Oli Ullah, 23; his assistant Md Nishan Islam, 25; and a trader Motassim Billah 33, who was travelling in the truck.

However, it could not be known whether any of the bus passengers were injured or died in the accident because the bus fled from the scene immediately after the accident, said police.

Quoting locals and witnesses, police said the tomato-laden truck was heading towards Rajshahi from Phulbari upazila.

The vehicle reached Phulbari upazila's Bhimalpur area on Dinajpur-Gobindaganj regional road around 4.00am when the driver lost control over the steering and collided head-on with a passenger bus that was coming from the opposite direction.

The accident left the three dead on the spot, said Ashraful Islam, officer-in-charge of Phulbari police station.

On information, police and members of fire service rushed to the spot and rescued their bodies by cutting the truck's wreckage.