The deceased was identified as 26-year-old Sadia Akter, who died at the scene. She leaves behind a four-year-old daughter and a husband, Ismail Hossain, who works as an expatriate worker in Saudi Arabia. The collision also severely injured the auto-rickshaw driver, Roman Hossain, 45, alongside three of Sadia’s relatives: Khorsheda Begum, 58, Jilani, 28, and Parvin, 40. Sadia was traveling with her extended family, including her mother-in-law Khorsheda, when the crash happened.

Family members revealed that the victim and her relatives were en route to attend a funeral. According to a relative, Md. Yasin Miah, Sadia’s aunt-in-law, Raziya Begum, had passed away on Friday evening. The family was traveling early in the morning to reach the venue ahead of the scheduled funeral service at 8:00 am.

At approximately 6:00 am, a bus belonging to Jainpur Paribahan struck the auto-rickshaw coming from the opposite direction. The force of the impact crushed the smaller vehicle, instantly killing Sadia and inflicting life-threatening injuries on the other occupants. Local residents rushed to the scene to assist the victims, transporting the injured to the Matlab Upazila Health Complex. Attending doctors transferred all four injured individuals to Dhaka Medical College Hospital due to the critical nature of their injuries.

Outraged by the incident, local residents detained the bus driver, identified as Kausar, a resident of Dhakirgaon in Matlab Municipality. They kept him secured in a local community house near the Nagda Boro Bari mosque whilst erecting a roadblock that temporarily halted bus services along the route.

Officers from the Matlab South Police Station arrived shortly afterwards to restore order. Sub-Inspector Delowar Hossain took the driver into police custody and seized the vehicle involved in the crash. Matlab South Police Station Officer-in-Charge, Hafizur Rahman Manik, confirmed that formal legal proceedings have commenced and a thorough investigation into the cause of the collision is underway.