At least 15 people were killed and several others injured in Bangladesh after a truck loaded with iron rods overturned near the eastern end of the Jamuna Bridge in Kalihati upazila of Tangail district on early Monday morning. According to police, the passengers aboard the truck were travelling to northern districts on the occasion of Eid.
Confirming the incident, Tangail Superintendent of Police Muhammad Shamsul Alan Sarkar informed that the accident took place around 4:30 a.m. in the Saratail Dakshinpara area of the Dhaka-Tangail highway, Bangladesh's leading newspaper, The Daily Star, reported.
Sarkar said that the identities of those killed could not immediately be confirmed while police and fire service personnel continued rescue operations at the scene. He added that the rod-laden truck carrying passengers was heading north when the driver lost control in the Saratail Dakshinpara area of the highway, causing the vehicle to overturn into a roadside ditch.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Syed Riaz Uddin, executive engineer at the Jamuna Bridge site office of the Bangladesh Bridge Authority, said that the passengers were travelling atop the rods loaded on the truck and were trapped beneath them after the truck overturned.
He said that the tragic accident was suspected to have occurred after the truck driver reportedly fell asleep while driving. Meanwhile, Elenga Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Sharif said that traffic congestion was caused on the highway during the rescue operation following the accident, though normal movement was later restored.
Earlier in March, local media reported that at least 40 people were killed and 69 others sustained injuries in road accidents across 14 districts in Bangladesh during the Eid holidays. Reports suggest that at least 12 people lost their lives and 18 others were injured in March after a Chattogram-Dhaka mail train collided with a bus at a level crossing in Sadar Dakshin upazila of Cumilla district.
Citing eyewitnesses and police, The Daily Star reported that the bus, which was travelling from Chuadanga to Lakshmipur, was dragged by the train for nearly a kilometre. According to authorities, no gateman was found on duty when the accident occurred, prompting the suspension of two gatemen for negligence.