7 killed, 6 injured as rice-laden truck falls into ditch in Cumilla's Daudkandi

Seven workers lost their lives and six sustained injuries when a rice-laden truck veered off the Dhaka-Chattogram highway and overturned into a ditch in Cumilla's Daudkandi early today (14 April).

The deceased were Sohorab Hossain, Md Afzal Hossain, Salek, Suman, Bishu, Abul Hossain and Abdul Rashid.

Daudkandi highway police said all the victims were agricultural workers travelling to Cumilla to harvest paddy.

Daudkandi Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Iqbal Bahar Majumder said the truck, travelling from Dinajpur to Chattogram, fell into a roadside ditch on the highway's Chattogram-bound lane in Hasanpur, Daudkandi.

At the time, 13 workers were on top of the truck and were trapped under the vehicle after it overturned, leaving seven dead and six injured, he added.

"We recovered seven bodies from under the truck and sent the injured to hospital for treatment. The bodies are now in the custody of Daudkandi highway police.

"The vehicle involved in the accident has been recovered and traffic on the highway is now normal."

However, the driver or helper could not be arrested after the incident, the OC said.

Daudkandi Fire Service Station Officer Md Ershad Hossain said the agency received the report at 2:43am and recovered seven bodies from under the truck while rescuing six injured alive.

One of the injured, Jahangir Alam Babu from Dinajpur, said they were all agricultural workers from different upazilas of Dinajpur and were heading to Cumilla.

He said the truck was supposed to go to Chattogram, but they boarded it to travel to Cumilla.

He added that the driver was behind the wheel up to Meghna Bridge, after which his assistant took over driving while they were lying and sitting on sacks of rice and noticed the change.

"After some time, we suddenly felt dizzy. When the vehicle fell, we were trapped under the sacks of rice. Only my head was outside, which saved me, though my leg was broken," he added.