Shawdesh Desk:

Frequent accidents, mainly head-on collisions between two passenger-carrying vehicles, are claiming many lives on different busy roads and highways across the country.

Such accidents are also taking place on different streets in the capital.

Tendency of overturn by many running vehicles on different busy road-divider and roadside is also reported from different corners of the country nowadays, risking lives of passers-by and passengers.

Within a span of only two days till December 31, two such tragic accidents occurred in the country — one in Ullapara in Sirajganj and another in Dhaka.

On Friday, a passenger bus of National Travels plying Dhaka-Rajshahi route overturned and fell on a rickshaw van in Ullapara upazila of Sirajganj that left at least four people killed and 15 others injured.

The incident took place on Hatikumrul-Bonpara highway in the upazila around 10:30am.

Hatikumrul Highway Police Station OC Lutfur Rahman said the Rajshahi-bound bus of National Travels lost control, overturned and fell on the rickshaw van, leaving four passengers of the three-wheeler dead on the spot.

Three days ago, a bus operated by Ena Paribahan ploughed into a microbus after breaking through a road divider in Dhaka, leaving one person injured.

The driver of the microbus was hurt after the incident took place in the capital’s Airport Road on Tuesday, according to police.

“The Sylhet-bound bus ploughed into the microbus coming from the opposite direction after breaking through the road divider,” Khilkhet Police Station Chief Russell Parvez said.

Meanwhile, two people died in Sunamganj on Sunday after a tractor and an auto-rickshaw collided head-on. The crash was reported from Aliganj of the northeastern district’s Jagannathpur Upazila around 8:00am, said Sub-inspector Obaid Ullah of the local police.

The driver of the three-wheeler and one of the passengers died on the spot, he said.

One of the victims was identified as 45-year-old Amir Ali while another person was yet to be identified, added the police officer.

In another incident, three school students were killed as a truck hit their motorcycle in Birganj upazila of Dinajpur on Sunday.

The accident took place on Dinajpur-Panchagarh highway under Birganj upazila around 2:00pm.

The deceased were Md Sahadat Hossain, 14, son of Afsar Ali; Shahriar Shuvo, 14, son of Jahangir Hossain; and Muzahid Hossain, 13, son of Md Sukur Ali. All of them hailed from Makrai village in Birganj upazila.

According to locals, Sahadat and Shuvo were ninth-graders while Muzahid was a class-8 student of Kabi Nazrul High School in Birganj.

Birganj Police Station investigation officer Sohel Rana confirmed the matter.

Quoting locals, he said they were returning home from school on a motorcycle on completion of their admission process.

When they reached Chakai area, a truck hit their bike from behind, leaving Sahadat and Shuvo dead on the spot, he said.

Later, locals took Muzahid to Birganj Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead, he added.

On December 4, a university student was killed after a trailer truck hit his motorbike in the capital.

Twenty-one-year-old Mahadi Hossain Limon was a Textile Engineering student of the Green University, police said.

The accident took place near Kawla on the Airport Road, said Sub-inspector Asaduzzaman Sheikh of the Airport Police Station.

At least 418 people were killed and 497 others were injured in road accidents across the country in December last year, according to a report by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).

A total of 383 road accidents took place during the period, it said.

Among the deceased, 63 were women and 49 were children, according to the report released on Saturday.

Around 178 people died in 167 motorcycle crashes during the month, which is 42.58 percent of the total number of deaths, as noted in the report.

As many as 127 pedestrians were among the deceased, constituting 30.38 percent of the deaths.

Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, general secretary of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, said, “The present government made various promises before the election to ensure road safety, but in reality we can’t see any progress.”

On October 15, two people were killed and another was injured in a head-on collision between two motorcycles in Manikganj.

On November 9, two people were killed and many injured after a truck collided with a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on Dhaka-Jamalpur Highway in Jamalpur Sadar Upazila.

A speeding truck collided head-on with Tangail-bound auto-rickshaw at 5:00am in the upazila’s Narikeli area, leaving the two dead on the spot, according to witnesses.

On December 3,a driver of a truck was killed when his vehicle collided head-on with a bus on Dhaka-Tangail Highway.

The incident took place on Bangabandhu Bridge in Tangail.

On December 10, two people were killed and one received injuries after a truck hit a van in Dinajpur’s Birganj upazila.

On December 11, a man and his son were killed as a truck rammed into the motorcycle they were riding in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi.

Abdus Salam, 60, and his son Ibrahim Hossain, 35, were on their way home around 10:00pm when the accident took place in the upazila’s Bijoynagar area.

On December 17, three persons travelling in an auto-rickshaw were killed and two others injured in a head-on collision with a truck in Sarail upazila of Brahmanbaria.

On December 24, a head-on collision between a bus and a covered van left one person dead and seven others injured on Cumilla-Noakhali regional highway in Laksam upazila.

On December 26, two people were killed on the spot after a train and a bus collided on a level crossing in Narayanganj city.