Six students, who included two siblings, were killed in a traffic accident on their way to school and college at Begumganj on the Maijdee-Choumuhani Road in Noakhali on Saturday morning.
The accident took place between Ekhlaspur and Maijdee, five kilometres off the district headquarters, about 9:30am when a bus rammed into a human hauler which was carrying the students.
The driver of human hauler, Abul Kashem, was also killed. The bus driver and his assistant got away.
Two of the deceased were students of Ekhlaspur High School and four were students Noakhali Government Women’s College.
Soon after the accident, several hundred people took to the streets, seized the bus and set it on fire.
The people also blocked the Maijdee-Choumuhani Road, suspending traffic for about three hours. Traffic resumed about 12:45pm after police intervention.
The deceased were Momtaj Begum Purnima, 13, a student of Class VII and her younger brother Babu, 12, a student of Class VI of Ekhlaspur High School. They were from Kazinagar of the upazila.
Four other who died in the accident were Momtaj Begum, Tania Akhter Mary, Amena Akhter and Najma Akhter. They were Class XI students of Noakhali Government Women’s College.
The injured were admitted to Noakhali Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.
The Begumganj police officer-in-charge, Amirul Islam, and witnesses said that the human hauler headed for Maijdee collided head-on with a bus headed for Feni. The human hauler was smashed.
The police sent the bodies Noakhali General Hospital for post-mortem examinations.
According to government statistics, 12 people die in road accidents every day on an average, totalling 5,000 every year but unofficial sources put the figures at 12,000.
-With New Age input
