The death toll from the Gazipur road accident has risen to five as two injured in the incident perished while undergoing medical treatment.
The accident took place when a truck hit an autorickshaw in Gazipur’s Kaliakair upazila at around 6:30am on Monday (19 February).
Naojor Highway Police OC Shahadat Hossain said, “The accident took place around 6:30am in the Sutrapur union of Kaliakair upazila on Dhaka-Tangail highway on Monday (19 February)”.
“The truck driver escaped the scene after the accident. However, the truck has been seized. Steps underway for legal action in this regard,” he added.
Quoting eyewitnesses, police said the truck hit the autorickshaw while it was on the service lane of the highway.
On information, police and fire service members rushed to the spot and rescued five passengers of the autorickshaw and sent them to the Kaliakoir Upazila Health Complex, where the doctors declared three dead.
There deceased had been identified as Mofazzal, 65, Zahidul Islam, 40, and Shaukat Ali, 42.
All of them were residents of Bhauman Talabah village of Sutrapur union in Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur.
The other two – autorickshaw driver Ramzan Ali, 40, and another passenger named Abbas Ali, 65, who was the deceased Zahidul’s father, were being treated for serious injuries.
Later in the day, Abbas succumbed to his injuries, two hours later Ramzan also died.
“We are shocked by the death of four neighbours including a father and son,” Sutrapur Union Chairman Md Solaiman Mintu said.