Seven passengers, including a child, were killed after a bus hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in the Gandrapa bypass area of Mymensingh city at about 1:15pm on Friday, police said. Four of the victims were members of the same family.
Muhammad Shibirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Model Police Station, confirmed that all seven people died at the scene after the bus hit the auto-rickshaw.
The front sections of both the bus and the CNG-run auto-rickshaw were badly damaged in the collision.
Four of the seven victims have been identified as members of one family from Dari Hamidpur village in Nandina area of Jamalpur Sadar upazila. The other three victims could not be identified immediately.
The identified victims were bricklayer Mofazzal Hossain Lebu, 50; his mother Rashida Begum, 70; his daughter Marzina, 25; and Marzina’s five-year-old son, Minan. The family was travelling to their workplace in Gazipur when the accident occurred.
Police and Fire Service personnel carried out rescue operations after receiving information about the crash. The bodies were later sent to the morgue of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
Police initially believe the collision occurred because both vehicles were travelling at excessive speed and neither could give way to the other, Shibirul Islam said. The bus was detained after the accident, but its driver and helper fled.
Traffic on the Akua bypass road was disrupted for about an hour following the accident before normal movement resumed.