Road crashes claim 9 lives in four dists

At least nine people were killed and 19 injured in separate road accidents across the country yesterday.

In Chattogram's Patiya upazila, a bus collided with a microbus around 8:30am on Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway, leaving four people dead.

The dead were identified as Shahjahan, 50, Anwar Hossain, 48, Sakib, 22, and Nazim Uddin, 18. All of them were passengers of the microbus, said Inspector ABM Mizanur Rahman, in-charge of Patiya Highway Police Outpost.

Of them, Anwar Hossain died on the way to hospital while three others died on the spot. Both the vehicles skidded off the highway and fell into a roadside paddy field after the collision, he added.

A relative of a victim breaks down in tears in Chittagong Medical College Hospital. Photo: Rajib Raihan

Alauddin Talukdar, assistant sub-inspector of CMCH Police Outpost, said 12 passengers were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital. Of them, five were in critical condition.

Meanwhile, in Sitakunda upazila of the district, another bus hit a truck around 4:00am on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, leaving one dead and three others injured.

The driver of the bus -- Anwar, 40 -- was declared dead when taken to Sitakunda Health Complex.

Elsewhere, in Cumilla's Monohorganj upazila, two people were killed and four injured as a CNG-run auto-rickshaw collided with a lorry.

The dead are Sirajul Islam, 70, and Risad, 20, passengers of the auto-rickshaw.

Sirajul died on the spot while Risad died on the way to hospital, said Shakhawat Hossain, in-charge of Lalmai Police Outpost.

The accident occurred in Khila Bazar area of the upazila, he added.

Meanwhile, in Faridpur's Sadar upazila, a motorbike was run over by brick-laden truck, leaving the rider dead on the spot.

The dead is Gurudev Sarkar, 45, of Amgram village in the upazila, said Kamrul Hossain, officer-in-charge of Madaripur Sadar Police Station.

Another motorbike rider Md Faruk, 31, was killed as a speeding truck run him over at Khaharol upazila in Dinajpur.

Faruk was sitting on his motorbike in Doshmail area when the truck ran him over, said Abdul Malek, in-charge of Dashmail Highway Police Outpost, quoting witnesses.

[Our Cumilla, Faridpur and Dinajpur correspondents contributed to this report.]