Five killed in Sylhet, Gazipur road accidents

Five people have been killed in three separate accidents in Sylhet and Gazipur districts. In Gazipur, two garment workers were killed after a truck driver lost his control and ran over them in Haratkitla area of Kaliakoir upazila. The deceased are Ayesha Akter, 32, from Boktarpur area of the upazila and Jobeda Akhter, 30, from Narsinghopur area of Tangail. Both of them worked in Mahmud Jeans Limited’s factory. Meanwhile, a hospital staff was run over by a dairy lorry in Naljani area.

The deceased, Julekha Akter, 40, from Gosaibaria of Rangpur’s Kotwali area, worked in Modern Hospital and Diagnostic Center in Chandna area. Both the accidents happened on Saturday night, confirmed Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Salna Highway police station Mir Golam Faruq. The bodies of the deceased were sent to Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy, said the OC.

In Sylhet, two people were killed after a truck plunged into a canal from a bridge in Jaintapur upazila early Sunday. The deceased were identified as Ebadur Rahman, the driver of the truck, and Russel Ahmed, the driver’s assistant, both hailing from Jaintapur. Police said the accident occurred around 5:30am on Sylhet-Tamabil road at Damri bridge. The soil-laden truck fell into a canal from Damri Bridge, killing two people on the spot, said Mohammad Ibrahim, officer-in-charge of Jaintapur police station.

On information, police and fire service members recovered the bodies with the help of locals around 7:30am.

At least 484 people were killed and 673 injured in 427 road accidents throughout Bangladesh only in January this year, marking an alarming rise in such incidents. According to the Road Safety Foundation (RSF), the accident rate jumped by 25.58% and fatalities by 8.76% last month compared to the same period last year. At least 445 lives were lost in 340 road accidents in January 2020.

Data gathered by Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association also says that at least 6,686 people lost their lives and 8,600 were injured in a total of 4,891 road accidents in 2020.

It means on average, roughly 18 people were killed every day in road accidents across the country.