Truck-pickup collision kills 5 in Tangail

Five people were killed and another was injured early yesterday as a truck collided head-on with a pick-up on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Gharinda Bypass area in the district.

The accident occurred around 4:30am when the driver of the Dhaka-bound truck lost control over the vehicle and it hit the pick-up coming from the opposite direction, Sub-Inspector Mohammad Ziaul Haque of Elenga Highway Police Outpost told this newspaper. 

Four labourers, who were in the pick-up loaded with printing machines, and the helper of the vegetable-laden truck died on the spot. Another labourer was injured.

The truck driver escaped.

The dead are truck helper Bulbul Mia, 40, from Rajshahi, and labourers Babul Mia, 32, Abdus Sobhan, 34, Nazrul Islam, 35, and Riyad Mia, 30.

Upon information, members of Fire Service and Civil Defence rushed to the spot. They recovered the bodies and took the injured labourer to Tangail General Hospital.

Rezaul Karim, assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence in Tangail, said the accident had occurred due to reckless driving by the driver of the truck that swerved off the lane and hit the pick-up coming from the opposite direction.

He mentioned that dense fog might have affected the visibility on the highway.

Meanwhile, vehicular movement on the Bangabandhu Bridge was halted twice following two minor accidents on the west side of the bridge yesterday, said sources in the traffic control room of the bridge.

The first one occurred around midnight, bringing traffic movement on the bridge to a halt for more than half an hour.

Vehicular movement on the bridge was again suspended for about an hour after another mishap at about 3:00pm.

No causalities were reported, Kazi Aiyubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Bangabandhu Bridge East Police Station, told this correspondent.