UNB :
Five people were killed and five others injured in a head-on collision between a speeding truck and an ambulance ferrying passengers in Kalihati upazila of Tangail on Saturday, police said.
All the victims had boarded the northern district-bound ambulance from Dhaka in the absence of any public transport due to the Covid-induced stricter lockdown. However, the identities of the deceased are yet to be established.
The accident occurred around 7.30am when the truck crashed into the ambulance that was coming from the opposite direction on the east side of Bangabandhu bridge in the Hatia area, police said.
The impact of the collision was such that three occupants of the ambulance died on the spot. The seven other injured occupants were rushed to Tangail General Hospital, where two of them were declared dead on arrival.
A probe has been ordered into the accident, a police official said.
Road accidents are common in Bangladesh and have been a major cause of deaths.
During the last Eid-ul-Fitr holiday rush, road accidents claimed 323 lives in just 15 days, said Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Shamiti, a human rights body.
Besides, 513 people, including 63 children, were killed and 598 injured in 409 road accidents across the country in March, said Road Safety Foundation on April 5.
According to the NGO, 147 lives were lost in 138 motorcycle accidents, which is 28.65% of the total deaths.
In a report released in February 2020, the World Bank pointed out that Bangladesh needs to invest an estimated $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities.
The report attributed the high death rate on Bangladesh’s roads to lack of investments in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes.
