Three Killed and at Least 15 Injured in Two Separate Road Crashes in Khulna

Three people have been killed in two separate road accidents at the Atharamile area of Dumuria on the Khulna-Satkhira highway. The dead include a truck driver and two motorcycle riders. At least 15 bus passengers were also injured in a head-on collision between a truck and a bus. The accidents happened on Wednesday afternoon and in the early hours of Tuesday night in the same area.

The dead are Crown Cement Company truck driver Jinnat Mia, 35, from Muktarpur village in Munshiganj; Abdur Rouf Gazi, 43, of Noronia village in Dumuria; and Yunus Sardar, 25. Munshi Parvez Ahmed, officer-in-charge of Kharnia Highway Police Station, confirmed the three deaths.

Local sources, highway police and the fire service said that at about 2:30pm on Wednesday, a Crown Cement truck was returning to Khulna after unloading cement in Satkhira when it collided head-on with a passenger bus travelling from Khulna to Satkhira. The truck ended up beside the road and the bus was thrown into a water-filled ditch alongside it.

Truck driver Jinnat Mia was seriously injured in the crash. He was rescued and taken to Dumuria Upazila Health Complex, where the doctor on duty, Dr Tasmia Akter, declared him dead.

Locals said the bus was carrying at least 45 passengers and many of them were injured. The injured were taken to hospitals and clinics in places including Tala in Satkhira. Police put the number injured in this collision at no fewer than 15.

Earlier, at about 1:30am on Tuesday night, another accident took place in the same area. Motorcycle riders Abdur Rouf Gazi and Yunus Sardar were killed when a bus of Imad Paribahan hit their motorcycle.

Local sources and police said Rouf Gazi was a fish trader at Chuknagar market. On Tuesday night he went to the market with his employee Yunus to pay dues owed to fish farmers. On their way home by motorcycle at about 1:30am, a Dhaka-to-Satkhira Imad Paribahan bus hit their motorcycle near the Atharamile bus stand.

The impact threw both men onto the road with serious head injuries, and they died on the spot, police and local sources said.

OC Munshi Parvez Ahmed said a case has been filed over the incident. After the legal process, the bodies of the two men were handed over to their families.

Two fatal accidents within hours on the same stretch of the same highway have caused concern among local people. They have demanded stricter speed control and monitoring on this section.

Highway police said the causes of both accidents are being investigated and legal proceedings concerning the vehicles and those responsible are under way. The injured passengers are receiving treatment at different hospitals.