Death toll in Barishal road crash rises to 11

At least 11 passengers of a bus were killed and 20 others injured as the vehicle hit a roadside tree after its driver lost control over the steering on Barishal-Dhaka highway in Wazirpur upazila in Barishal early Sunday.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Wazirpur police station officer-in-charge Ali Arshad said a Bhandaria-bound bus of J Line Paribahan from Dhaka hit a roadside tree after its driver lost control in Bamrail area at around 5:00am.

He further said 11 people including children were killed on the spot. None of them could be identified immediately. At least 20 others injured were sent to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital. Two units of fire service have been working to recover the bus, the OC added.

Barishal fire service unit leader Md Jahangir said two of their units from Gournadi and Wazirpur have been conducting the rescue operation. The fire service men are rescuing the passengers cutting parts of the bus and sending them to hospitals, he added.

Md Jahangir could not say how long the rescue operation would continue.

Residential medical officer at Wazirpur upazila health complex, Pranab Roy, said bodies of 11 people, who died in the accident, have been kept at the hospital.