Bangladesh News

Ten people were killed and two others injured in a road accident at Pouli on Jamuna Bridge approach road in Tangail’s Kalihati upazila early yesterday.

Highway police said the accident happened when a Bogra-bound truck from Dhaka, carrying 17 people on its fertiliser loads, veered off the road into a roadside ditch at about 3:45am, leaving ten people dead on the spot.

Injured passengers alleged that the driver was drunk.

Four of the dead were identified as rickshaw-pullers Ripon Mia, 20, of Rouhadaha village under Sariakandi upazila, Mohammad Milon, 28, of Bil Chapil village, Farid Mia, 35, of Biswaria village and Nurul Islam, 35, of Paigati village under Dhunat upazila of Bogra.

Police sent the injured–rickshaw-pullers Mantu Mia, 40, of Shanta village in Kahalu upazila, Bogra and Abdul Latif, 35, of Chandaikona village of Raiganj upazila, Sirajganj–to Tangail General Hospital.

Mantu Mia told The Daily Star that the driver was drunk and was driving recklessly from the start.

“We requested him to drive carefully after narrowly escaping an accident at Gabtali. He gave a hoot to our request,” Abdul Latif added.

Mantu said they got on the truck from Karwan Bazar at around 1:00am, at a fare of Tk 50 per person.

The passengers, mostly rickshaw-pullers, hail from different upazilas of Bogra and Sirajganj.

The unidentified bodies were kept at the hospital morgue.

Police seized the truck but the driver and helper managed to slip away.