At least 14 people were killed and dozens injured in two separate road accidents in Bangladesh’s northeastern Sylhet and northern Bogura districts on Friday morning, according to police and local media.
Eight people were killed and at least 25 injured when two passenger buses collided head-on in Osmaninagar, Sylhet, at around 7.30 am.
The crash occurred in the Kashikapan area of the Dhaka-Sylhet highway when a Sylhet-bound Bengal Paribahan bus collided with a Dhaka-bound Unique Paribahan bus, according to police and eyewitnesses.
The impact sent the Unique Paribahan bus into a roadside ditch, killing eight of its passengers at the scene.
Golam Mostafa, officer-in-charge of Osmaninagar Police Station, confirmed the death toll. Many of the injured were taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
A critically injured three-year-old child was taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared the child dead, reports UNB.
Members of Sherpur Highway Police, Osmaninagar Police Station and Fire Service rushed to the spot and carried out a rescue operation. The bodies were recovered and taken to the Sherpur Highway Police Station.
The vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway remained normal.
Hours earlier, six people were killed when a Dhaka-to-Naogaon passenger bus lost control in the Silki Bandha area of Erulia on the Bogura-Naogaon highway at around 5.30 am and plowed into day labourers waiting by the roadside for work.
Police said the bus first struck an electricity pole before hitting the workers.
Three people died at the scene, while three others later succumbed to their injuries at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogura. At least 15 people were injured, several of them critically.
Confirming the incident, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Bogura Sadar Police Station Ibrahim Ali said the bodies were sent to the hospital morgue for autopsy, UNB reported.
A large number of people gathered at the scene following the accident, causing severe traffic congestion.