Three of an eight-member family, heading home for celebrating Durja Puja, were killed when a goods-laden truck, which they were travelling on, flipped on its side after skidding off the road in Tangail's Mirzapur early yesterday.

Five others of the family were also injured. They were undergoing treatment at   Kumudini Hospital.

Around 2:00am, the family boarded the truck for Joypurhat from Gazipur's Chandra area as the fare was lower than that of a bus, police quoted the injured victims as saying.  

The deceased are garment worker Niranjan Mali, 35, of Sekharanjan village in Joypurhat's Khetlal upazila, and his wife Sagoree Mali, 25, and seven-year-old daughter Swarna.

The accident happened on the Dhaka-Tangail highway at Savullah when the driver of the tiles-laden truck heading for Bogura lost control around 2:30am, said AKM Kawsar, officer-in-charge of Gorai Highway Police Station.

The eight were sitting on the tiles of the truck. Three died on the spot and five others were wounded as they were trapped under tiles, he said.

On information, police, and fire service and civil defence members rescued the injured and rushed them to Kumudini Hospital, he said.

The driver and the helper of the truck managed to flee the spot after the accident, he added.

Police suspect that the truck driver fell asleep during the driving, said Sub-Inspector Faisal Ahmed of Mirzapur Police Station.