9 killed as buses collide in Tangail

At least nine people including two women and a child were killed and over 50 others injured in a road accident on Dhaka-Tangail highway in Mirzapur upazila of Tangail yesterday.
Police and witnesses said the accident occurred at Kadim Dhalla when a Jamalpur-bound passenger bus from Dhaka collided head on with a Dhaka-bound passenger bus from Tangail around 3:30pm. The accident left five passengers including two women dead on the spot.
After the accident, locals and police started a rescue operation. They sent the injured to Jamurki Health Complex and Kumudini Hospital where four passengers succumbed to their injuries--one at Jamurki Health Complex while three at Kumudini Hospital, police said.
Of the dead, three were identified as Refaz alias Dhala, 45, of Panchdana village, Sanwar Hossain, 25, of Shabhulla village in Mirzapur upazila, and Rifat, 2, of Kashinath village in Tangail sadar upazila, while six others were yet to be identified.
Habibullah Sarkar, officer-in-charge of Mirzapur Police Station, said the accident occurred due to reckless driving when one bus tried to overtake the other.
The bodies were recovered and sent to Mirzapur Police Station, he added.
Director of Kumudini Hospital Dr Dulal Poddar told The Daily Star that around 40 people were undergoing treatment in the hospital and 15 of them were in a critical condition.
A few of the injured were sent to Dhaka for better treatment, hospital sources said.
High officials of Tangail district administration have already visited the accident spot and the injured at the hospitals.