Tragedy rips apart family

Early yesterday, Shah Alam and his family members woke up to the news that his son was stabbed and being treated at a hospital.

Worried sick, the family started for the hospital in a CNG-run auto-rickshaw but fell victim to a tragic accident on the way.

Shah Alam, 38, five of his family members and the auto-rickshaw driver were killed as the vehicle collided head-on with a goods-laden truck on the Dhaka-Raipur regional road in Laxmipur Sadar's Mandarir Ratanpur area.

Seven people including six members of a family are killed as a truck hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Laxmipur Sadar upazila on Wednesday, January 23, 2019. Photo: Collected

The accident around 5:00am left all those in the auto-rickshaw dead on the spot, Mohammad Shahjahan, officer-in-charge of Chandraganj Highway Police, told The Daily Star.

The victims include Shah Alam's wife Nasima Akter, 32, their sons Rubel, 3, and Amit, 15, Shah Alam's sister Shamsun Nahar, 25, sister-in-law Rokeya Begum, 29, and the driver Nuru, 35. They all were from Jagadishpur area of Noakhali's Begumganj upazila.

Quoting the victims' relatives, police said unidentified criminals stabbed Shah Alam's elder son Nadim Mahmud Antor, 20, around 1:00am in Chandraganj's Sadaghar area.

The reason of the attack on Antor, who owns a CNG-run auto-rickshaw garage, was not immediately known. He was admitted to Laxmipur Sadar Hospital.

Seven people including six members of a family are killed as a truck hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Laxmipur Sadar upazila on Wednesday, January 23, 2019. Photo: Collected

The OC said police, on information, went to the spot of the accident and sent the bodies to Laxmipur Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.

The truck was seized but the driver and his helper fled, he added.