An elderly man lost his life on Thursday morning following a road traffic collision along the Naogaon-Rajshahi highway in the Manda upazila of Naogaon district. The victim, identified as 65-year-old Abdus Sobhan, was struck by an unidentified passenger bus while travelling to visit his daughter.

The fatal incident took place around 9:00 am in the Bablatali area. Sobhan, a resident of Dargapara Rajapur in Naogaon’s Niamatpur upazila, had set out earlier in the morning accompanied by his seven-year-old grandson. The duo boarded a battery-powered auto-rickshaw at Manda Ferryghat, intending to travel to the Baludanga bus terminal in Naogaon town to secure onward transport to Shantahar in Adamdighi upazila, Bogura.

Disaster struck en route when a speeding passenger bus collided with the auto-rickshaw from behind before fleeing the scene. The impact threw Sobhan off the vehicle onto the tarmac, inflicting critical injuries. Onsite witnesses and passers-by rushed to his aid, transporting him to the nearby Manda Upazila Health Complex. Attending medical officers declared him dead upon arrival.

Sub-Inspector Abul Kalam Azad of Manda Police Station confirmed the fatality, stating that officers retrieved the body and took it into police custody shortly after receiving reports of the incident. Law enforcement officials are working to trace the unidentified bus and its driver using highway surveillance and eyewitness accounts. The victim’s body will be handed over to his family once the necessary legal procedures and inquest formalities are concluded.

Highway accidents involving light vehicles and high-speed passenger buses remain a persistent safety challenge across regional arteries in Bangladesh. The Naogaon-Rajshahi corridor sees heavy mixed traffic daily, where three-wheelers, auto-rickshaws, and long-distance coaches share narrow road spans, frequently increasing the risk of severe collisions during peak travel hours.