5 die as truck ploughs thru' auto stand

At least five people were killed, and four others injured, when a speeding truck ploughed into a CNG-run auto-rickshaw stand along the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Mirsarai upazila of Chattogram yesterday.

The dead were identified as Shah Alam, 48, Md Didarul Alam, 36, Md Mohiuddin, 60, Md Kamrul Hossain, 24, and Md Mossarraf Hossain, 24, police sources said.

Deputy Assistant Director of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defense Jasim Uddin said, “Of the deceased, Mohiuddin was a passenger of a CNG-run auto-rickshaw while the rest were CNG drivers.”

A group of CNG drivers were standing in front of a tea stall at Thakur Dighir CNG-run auto-rickshaw stand by the highway around 6:45am to pick up passengers. The iron coil laden truck, heading towards Dhaka, ploughed into the small crowd gathered at the stand, leaving four people dead on the spot and injuring five others, said Sergeant Sohel Sardar of Highway Police's Jorarganj outpost.

On information, fire fighters from Kumira Fire Station rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies and sent the injured to hospital, said Jasim, adding, “of the injured, Mosharraf died on the way to hospital.”

The four others injured, Md Rubel, Md Liton, Md Nabi and Md Shahin, were rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and Mirsarai Upazila Health Complex.

After the accident, locals caught the truck driver, Shahin, 22, and handed him over to police.

Quoting the witnesses, police officials said that the truck driver was almost asleep while driving which may have been the cause of his reckless driving that led to the accident.