TDS Desk:

At least 26 people were killed and 30 others injured in a series of road accidents across Bangladesh on Monday, with a single tragedy in Tangail claiming 17 lives.

The fatalities occurred in Tangail, Bogra, Munshiganj, and Gopalganj districts during the Eid holiday period.

The deadliest incident took place in Tangail’s Kalihati upazila during the early hours of Monday when a truck loaded with iron rods overturned on the Bangabandhu Bridge approach road.

Local authorities confirmed that 15 people died on the spot, while two others succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.

All 17 victims were seasonal farm laborers traveling from Chattogram to northern districts for paddy harvesting.

According to Additional Superintendent of Police Fauzia Habib Khan, the driver lost control of the vehicle in the Soratoil area, causing the truck to flip into a roadside ditch.

Local administration has identified 15 of the deceased, most of whom hailed from Naogaon and Rajshahi districts.

In Bogra, a father and his two-year-old daughter were killed on the Dhaka-Rangpur highway when an unidentified vehicle struck their motorcycle in Shajahanpur upazila. The victims, identified as Anisur Rahman and his daughter Pushpa, were traveling to their village in Pabna for the holidays. Anisur’s wife, Aisha Begum, sustained critical injuries in the crash.

The road toll further increased in Munshiganj, where a helper of a lorry died following a collision with a covered van on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Gajaria. Police identified the deceased as 18-year-old Antar Das. The driver of the covered van was sent to Dhaka in critical condition.

Meanwhile, in Gopalganj, a three-way collision involving a bus, a microbus, and a private car left one person dead and 15 others injured.

The accident occurred on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in the Sadar upazila during the afternoon, resulting in the death of the microbus driver.

Emergency services and local police responded to all sites to conduct rescue operations and manage traffic flow on the busy highways.