Bagerhat: At least 16 people were killed and 40 injured in a fatal traffic mishap as a bus and a truck collided on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway in Mollahat upazila early Wednesday, police and locals said.

Five of the deceased were identified as truck-driver Moniruzzaman, 45, of Satkhira, Shariful, 25, of Fakirhat upazila, Annie, 4, and Mozaffar Hossain, 32, of Rampal upazila of Bagerhat and Debashish of Khulna.

The sources said a Mongla-bound night coach of Meghla Paribahan collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction in Gaola Madrasha Ghat area at about 4:30am, killing 14 passengers instantly.

Of the injured, 28 were rushed to hospitals in Khulna and Mollahat and Fakirhat upazilas in “critical condition”. Two of them succumbed to their injuries at Fakirhat Hospital.

“Both the accident-ridden vehicles got twisted into useless wrecks,” says a spot account of the tragic accident—latest one in a series of traffic mishaps across the country, reportedly for rash driving by untrained drivers and lax enforcement of traffic rules.

Bagerhat Police Super Khandakar Faridul Islam, ASP Mizanur Rahman, Mollahat UNO Dr Abdul Hakim and other high officials visited the scene, where the air was thick with wails and screams.

Firefighters with the help of police and local people conducted a four-hour rescue operation following the disastrous accident.

BDST: 1420 Hrs, June 02.2010
AHS /PB/LY/MUA