Five killed in Sylhet road accident

At least five people were killed and two others injured in a road accident on the Sylhet-Tamabil road as a bus collided with a battery-run auto-rickshaw in the Darvaste area under Jaintapur Upazila of Sylhet on Friday night.

The deceased were identified as Musad Ali, 50, son of late Khursed Alam, resident of Barakhla village of the upazila, Noor Uddin, 55, son of Mozammel Ali, resident of Srikhel village, Abdul Latif, 50, son of Abdul Bari, resident of Bargati village, Md Kamal, 25, son of Tariqul Islam, resident of Farfra village, and Matin Kachai, 45, son of Abdus Shukur of Dighirpar village of the upazila.

All five of the deceased were auto-rickshaw passengers.

The accident occurred when a Jaflong-bound bus from Sylhet collided head-on with a battery-run auto-rickshaw (locally called Tomtom) around 10pm. Both of the vehicles fell in a ditch at the side of the road, leaving five passengers of battery-run auto-rickshaw dead on the spot and several passengers of the bus injured. 

Confirming the incident, Tamabil Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abul Kashem said local police, highway police, and firefighters were involved in rescue operations.

Abdul Hai Al Hadi, a passenger of a car behind the bus involved in the accident, told the Daily Samakal that there were eight passengers on the auto-rickshaw, of whom five died.

While recounting the incident, he said the bus was plying on the wrong side of the road and it crashed into the auto-rickshaw, causing both vehicles to fall into the ditch. Fire service members were unable to carry out their duty as the weather was bad.

/KN/