Nor'wester took their home, road crash took all 4 of their lives in Faridpur

Rafikul Islam Milon Mollah's home was destroyed in a recent nor'wester in Faridpur on 28 March.

His family, his wife and two sons, had been struggling since.

A ray of hope two weeks after the storm came in the form of government relief, which the family was enlisted to receive to rebuild their homes and their lives.

Like Rafikul, others in his locality had also lost their homes. Rafikul volunteered to go with his family to collect tin sheds for all of them.

But who knew the journey to receive the relief would be the end.

Rafikul, his wife Sumi Begum, 23, his sons Ruhan Mollah, 8, and Abu Sinam, 3 left their village in Boalmari upazila this morning in a pickup van to receive the tin sheds from the relief wing of Faridpur DC office.

They almost reached their destination.

But their van collided head-on with a bus on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in the Sadar upazila.

All four died in the accident.

Milon, son of freedom fighter Tara Mia, was a lift operator in the Ministry of Finance at the Secretariat.

Talking to The Business Standard, Milon's cousin Nuruzzaman Khasru said, "I had spoken to Milon last night and he said that he would distribute the tin sheds among affected families and then he will return to Dhaka.

"No one could have foreseen that this would be his final journey."

Earlier in the morning, fourteen people have been killed in a bus-pickup van collision on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in Faridpur today (16 April).

"A Unique Paribahan bus going to Jashore from Dhaka collided with a pickup van coming from the opposite direction in the Diknagar area of Faridpur's Kanaipur upazila around 8am," said Md Morshed Alam, superintendent of Faridpur Police.

Meanwhile, a seven-member probe body was formed to investigate the incident. The committee will be headed by Additional District Magistrate Muhammad Ali Siddiqui.

Deputy Commissioner Md Quamrul Hasan Talukdar said, "Local administration formed the probe body and asked it to submit its report within three working days."

"The government will provide Tk 5 lakh each to the family members of the deceased while Tk 3 lakh each for those injured in the accident."

"Besides, Tk20,000 has been given immediately to the deceased families for burial purposes," he added.