Speeding truck kills 7 co-workers on Sylhet trip
The victims who lost their lives or were injured in the road accident in Narsingdi's Shibpur were workers of a garment factory named SB Knitting, located in Ashulia, Savar, Dhaka. They used to commute together for work purposes. On Friday, they were traveling in a group on a holiday trip to Sylhet in a microbus. Presently, some of their bodies lie in the morgue, while others are in hospital beds, their conditions dire after a reckless, speeding, stone-laden truck crushed them.
The accident occurred in the Ghasirdia area of the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Shibpur upazila at approximately 3:00 am on Friday. The incident occurred as a stone-laden truck from Sylhet attempted to overtake another vehicle at high speed, resulting in a head-on collision with the microbus. A total of seven individuals lost their lives, and four others sustained serious injuries.
Abul Kalam Azad, Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of Narsingdi Fire Service, stated that all the victims were passengers of the microbus. Among the deceased, five were pronounced dead at the accident site, while two more died after being transported to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital.
The seven deceased are– Md Sabuj (32) from Tangail, Al Amin Howladar (27) from Jhalokathi, Ariyan Sikder (25) from Barishal, Raju Ahmed (37) from Jamalpur, Amin Khan (27) from Tangail, Abdul Awal (40) from Tangail and Babul Molla (40) from Kushtia.
Three of the four wounded passengers have been identified. They are – Saki, Parvez and Doel. The microbus driver has been missing since the accident.
After learning about the accident, SB Knitting’s factory manager (administration) Md Shihab Uddin arrived at the Narsingdi Sadar Hospital morgue. He said that other than the driver and one passenger, the remaining nine passengers of the microbus were employees of SB Knitting. Eight of them worked as merchandisers and one of them was a storekeeper in the fabrics section.
He informed that they had been planning to visit Sylhet together for a few days. On Thursday, they started for Sylhet from Ashulia at around 11:00pm.
The Highway police and Fire Service informed that the accident happened at around 3:00am. The truck lost control after trying to overtake another vehicle and then had a head on collision with the microbus.
Officers from the Itakhola Highway police outpost and the fire service went to the spot, rescued six injured passengers, took them to the Narsingdi District Hospital and recovered the bodies of the five deceased.
Two of the injured passengers died on the way to the hospital. Four others who were injured have been sent to Dhaka for further treatment.
The in-charge of Narsingdi District Hospital ANM Mijanur Rahman said, one of the four injured is in critical condition.
Itakhola Highway Police outpost’s acting in-charge Kabir Hossain Bhuiyan said, they have seized the microbus and the truck. They have also detained the truck driver.
Additional Police Super of Narsigdi Anirban Chowdhury said, all seven of the deceased were passengers of the microbus. The bodies of the seven deceased have been kept in the hospital morgue. Legal steps will be taken after their relatives arrive.