Six killed in separate CNG-run auto-rickshaw accidents in Gazipur, Chattogram

At least six people were killed and five others critically injured in two separate road accidents involving CNG-run auto-rickshaws in Gazipur and Chattogram today(5 September).

In Gazipur, four people, including a mother and her teenage son, were killed and two others critically injured when a covered van collided head-on with a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in the Kanchanpur area of Kaliakair upazila.

Two of the deceased were identified as Firoza Begum, 45, wife of expatriate Hashem Mia, and her son Md Asadul, 18. They were residents of Bongkhuri area in Mirzapur upazila of Tangail.

The identities of the other two victims could not be established immediately. 

According to police and eyewitnesses, the passenger-carrying CNG-run auto-rickshaw was heading towards Kaliakair when it collided head-on with a goods-laden covered van coming from the opposite direction in Kanchanpur. Two passengers died on the spot.

Local residents and police rescued the injured passengers and took them to Kaliakair Upazila Health Complex. A teenage boy and later, a woman died while undergoing treatment there.

The two other critically injured passengers were later transferred to Dhaka for advanced treatment.

Shahidul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Kaliakair police station said relatives took two victims' bodies home from the scene. Police seized both vehicles involved in the crash, while efforts were underway to identify the remaining two victims. Legal proceedings were also being initiated.

Two killed in Chattogram

Two people, including a nursing student, were killed and three others seriously injured in another head-on collision involving a bus and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Chattogram's Chandanaish upazila today, reports UNB.

The deceased were identified as Tofael Mursalin, 23, a third-year student at Begum Osman Ara College of Nursing, hailing from Padua Dakshin Amiraabad in Lohagara upazila and Abdul Gafur, 60, son of the late Kalu Miah of Uttar Kanchannagar in Chandanaish upazila. 

According to eyewitnesses, a Cox's Bazar-bound bus of Tisha Platinum Paribahan collided head-on with the passenger-carrying auto-rickshaw near the Shahsufi Mazar Gate Bottola area, leaving five people critically injured. Locals rescued the injured and rushed them to BGC Trust Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared Mursalin dead.

Abdus Sattar, a Sub-Inspector of Dohazari Highway police station said police seized the bus and detained its driver, Solaiman Badsha. Further legal action is underway, he added.