Twelve, including nine of a family, were killed after a microbus carrying them had collided head-on with a bus on the Dhaka–Mawa Road at Dhakkhin Keraniganj in Dhaka on Wednesday morning.
Dhakkhin Keraniganj police subinspector Robiul Azam, who recovered the body from the spot, said that he had found 10 dead on the spot. Two were pronounced dead later in Square Hospitals, he said.
The police said that the microbus headed for Shariatpur had collided with a Sakura Paribahan bus headed for Dhaka on the highway at Kadampur about 6:30am.
Thirteen people — nine people who were relatives, three house helps and the driver — were in the microbus, one of the relatives, Shafikul Islam, said. All but a house help, who is admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a critical injuries, died.
The nine of the family who died in the accident were relations to Arshinagar union council chairman Zakir Hossain Sardar, also president of the Shakipur unit BNP in Shariatpur, the family said.
Zakir’s wife Shahnaj Parvin, 45, and their daughter Lumaisa Lubab, 14, his sister Ferdousy Begum, 45, and her son Sayeem Hassain, a student of North South University, another sister Shefraj Parvin, 37, her husband Southeast Bank’s executive officer AFM Rezaul Amin, their son Eyash, 7, and two-and-a-half-year old daughter Eshrat ans Zakir’s niece Tazrin, 9.
Two of three domestic helps — Kahinur, 15, and Khushu, 10 — and the microbus driver, Shohel Rana, died.
The family that lived on Indira Road and Rayerbazar in the capital were going to their village home in Shariatpur during the summer vacation of the children to attend a prayer session on the occasion of the death anniversary of Zakir’s mother scheduled for Thursday, the family said.
The bodies were so damaged that they family found it difficult to identify them, the witnesses said.
The Highway Police investigating the accident said that the accident had taken place as either of the vehicles was trying to overtake the other. No witnesses could be found immediately.
Highway Police assistant superintendent Belayet Hossain Sikder said that the microbus, which skidded off the road and fell into a roadside ditch that dried up, was completely damaged. The bus had its front damaged in the accident.
The police seized the vehicles.
Some passengers of the bus reportedly sustained injuries and the driver got away leaving the bus abandoned. The bus was owned by Humayun Kabir from Barisal, the police said.
New Age failed to reach Humayun for comments despite repeated attempts.
The bodies were handed over the families in the afternoon after post-mortem examinations at the Mitford Hospital morgue, the police said.
A pall of gloom descended at the morgue in the hospital where relatives were wailing.
The deputy speaker, Shawkat Ali, and the lawmaker for the Shariatpur constituency Nahim Razzaq visited Mitford Hospital where a namaz-e-janaza was held.
The New Age correspondent in Shariatpur said that a pall of gloom also descended on Bhederganj, Damuddya, Gonsairhat, Nariya, Jajira and Shafipur soon after the news reached there.
All but two bodies were buried in Dhaka and their village homes, the family said.
The bodies of Ferdousy and her son Sayeem Hassan were kept in the Combined Military Hospital mortuary for her eldest son Flight Lieutenant Shahed Hassan to arrive from abroad, the family said.
The bodies will be buried after the arrival of Shahed, who is now stationed in Congo on a United Nations peacekeeping mission, Squadron Leader Alvee Ferdous Khan told New Age.
No case was filed with the police till 7:15pm, the police said.
At least 150 people including Bibhas Chandra Saha, a senior reporter at the Independent, were killed in road accidents across the country in May, according to the media reports.
-With New Age input
