UNB, Bagerhat :
At least seven people were killed in two separate road accidents on the Khulna-Mawa highway in Bagerhat district on Friday, police said.
The first accident occurred early this morning in the Boiltoli area of the district’s Fakirhat upazila when a pickup van collided head-on with a battery-operated rickshaw. Both the vehicles were plying on the roads defying the Covid-induced lockdown restrictions.
While six occupants of the e-rickshaw, popularly known as easy bike, died on the spot in the impact of the crash, another severely injured passenger was rushed to a nearby hospital by cops and firefighters.
Five of the deceased have been identified so far — Utpal Raha, 36, and Nayan Dutta, 28, both residents of Nalda village, Abdul Hai, 55, of Shatshi village, Goura Chandra Dey, 50, of Town Naoapara area, and Najrul Sheikh, 50, of Dakkhin Khanpur village of Sadar upazila. Police is trying to identify another deceased in the accident.
Officer-in-charge of Fakirhat police station Anam Khairul Anam said that all the victims were occupants of the easy bike.
“The severely injured passenger was first taken to the Upazila Health Complex and later shifted to Khulna Medical College and Hospital after his condition deteriorated,” he said.
Both the easy bike and pickup van have been seized. “We have also detained the driver of the pickup van,” the OC said, adding that a case would be filed soon.
Police also recovered the body of a man believed to be in his sixties in the Chader Hat area of Mollahat upazila this morning. Cops suspect he’s a victim of a hit-and-run accident.
