Munshiganj road crash turns joyous occasion into tragedy

Instead of celebrating a wedding, the guests were mourning the death of groom's father Abdur Rashid Bepari and his six relatives. 

A pall of gloom fell on the groom's home on Friday, as the neighbours started preparations for burying the dead. The seven family members are among the ten who died in a collision between a bus and a microbus on Dhaka-Mawa Highway.

The accident took the lives of the groom Rubel Hossain's father Abdur Rashid Bepari, 70, his sister Liza, 24, nephew Tahsan, 5, niece Tabassum, 6, sister-in-law Runa, 25, uncle Keramat Bepari, 71, and cousin Renu, 12.

The three other victims are the microbus driver Billal, 28, neighbour Mofijul Mollah, 60 and Jahangir, 45. 

The fatal road crash, which left another ten people injured, occurred as a bus collided head-on with a microbus carrying the groom's party from Louhajang Upazila around 2:15pm. The victims were heading towards Keraniganj.    

Munshiganj's Superintendent of Police Mohammad Zaidul Alam said all the deceased were passengers of the microbus.

The injured are undergoing treatment at Sreenagar Upazila Health Complex. Sreenagar Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel and locals recovered the bodies and took the injured to hospitals.  

Six victims died on the scene as the two vehicles collided at Sologhar area on the highway. 

Death toll rose to eight as two more died at Sreenagar Health Complex. Meantime, another two died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital while undergoing treatment, taking the death toll to ten people.   

Hospital police outpost in-charge Bacchu Mia said, "Injured Jahangir and Runa had arrived at Dhaka Medical College Hospital emergency room at around 4:30pm. Runa died at around 5:15pm, while Jahangir succumbed to his injuries in the same evening.  

Deputy Commissioner of Munshiganj and Superintendent of Police visited the spot. The District Administration announced Tk20,000 compensations for the family of each deceased victim. A five-member probe committee, headed by Additional District Magistrate Asma Shaheen, has been formed to investigate the accident.