An elderly couple, their four female relatives along with another woman and the driver of the microbus they were travelling on were killed in a head-on collision with a truck on Bonpara-Hatikumrul Highway at Baraigram upazila in Natore on Wednesday.
The deceased were Zahidul Islam, 65, his wife Selina Khatun, 60, their four relatives鈥擨ti Khatun, 40, Anjuman Ara, 60, Anna Begum, 60, and Anu Begum, 55鈥攁nd Sima Khatun, 40, and microbus driver Sahab Hossain, 35.
All except Sahab and Sima, were residents of Dharmadaha village under Adabaria union of Daulatpur upazila in Kushtia, said Ismail Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bonpara Highway Police.
Sahab and Sima were residents of Gangni upazila in Meherpur.
According to the police and victims鈥� family members, the couple with their relatives were travelling on in a hired microbus from Dharmadaha village to Sirajganj to visit the couple鈥檚 daughter-in-law who was undergoing treatment at a hospital there.
Around 9:30am, when the microbus reached Airmari area near Tormuj pump on the Bonpara-Hatikumrul highway, a cement-laden truck coming from the opposite direction hit their vehicle head-on, leaving five of its passengers dead on the spot and three others injured, they said.
Ismail Hossain said that the injured were rushed to Baraigram Upazila Health Complex, where one of them succumbed to injuries, while two others succumbed to injuries at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital in the afternoon.
He said that after the accident, they seized the truck but its driver and helper managed to flee. 鈥楾he process of filing a case is underway in this regard,鈥� he added.
