Road crashes kill 12 in 7 dists within 12 hours

Road crashes killed at least 12 people in seven districts across the country from dawn to dusk on Tuesday.

Three were killed in Sirajganj, three in Barishal, two in Satkhira, and one each in Khulna, Faridpur, Jamalpur and Chandpur. 

The first accident took place around 4:30am at dawn in Faridpur, while the last one happened in the evening in Sirajganj.

In Faridpur, police recovered the body of Mim Khatun, 26, at Brahmankanda bazar in Sadar Upazila around 4:30am. 

The death likely had occurred earlier after the victim was hit by an unidentified vehicle, said Karimpur Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Jahurul Islam.

The accidents at Satkhira and Jamalpur took place around the same time at 6am. In Satkhira, two people were killed when their motorbike collided with a pickup van in front of Tetulia Jam-e-Mosque on the Khulna-Paikgachha Highway. 

The driver and the back-seat rider both died in the crash.

Nasim Ali Fakir,32, and Mehedi Hasan Fakir, 25, were cousins and hailed from Tala upazila of the district, said Tala Police Station Officer-in-Charge Shahidul Islam.

In Jamalpur, Ratna Bhanu, 47, was killed on the Jamalpur-Mymensingh Highway at Sharifpur union of the Sadar Upazila. She was suspected to be mentally challenged, said the Sadar Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Mizanur Rahman.

A sand-carrying drum truck collided with a pickup van, and the sides of truck hit Ratna as she was walking beside the speeding vehicles.

The pickup van's driver was also injured in the crash, and was referred to Mymensingh for better treatment.

In Chandpur, Mim Akter, 8, was killed by a speeding truck on the Hajiganj-Ramganj road. At the time, Mim, a third-grader at a local madrasa, was crossing the road with her grandmother in Hajiganj, said Hajiganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Mannan.

The killer truck had been seized and legal proceedings were underway, he added.

In Khulna, Mizanur Rahman, 36, was killed when a "nasiman," a local three-wheeler, overturned. He was both a medicine seller and a cattle trader, and was carrying a sacrificial animal on the three-wheeler. 

His son, aged seven, sustained critical head injuries, and two others were also injured, said Koyra Upazila Health Complex Medical Officer Dr Sujit Kumar Baidya.

In Barishal, three of a family were killed when their motorbike was hit by a bus around 12:30pm. It is believed that the victims were coming to their ancestral village from the capital to celebrate Eid. 

The motorbike was parked on the side of the road due to acute traffic jam, when the bus hit the vehicle at Batajor area of Gauranadi upazila. 

The agitated locals vandalised the bus, but the driving staff managed to flee the scene, said Gauranadi Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Mohsin, adding the bus has been seized.

In Sirajganj, three men were killed in a CNG-run auto rickshaw after a bus rammed the three-wheeler. The incident took place at CRBC area under Salanga Police Station around 6:30pm.