Three people, including a decorated war veteran, lost their lives in two separate road accidents along the Dhaka-Khulna highway in Gopalganj’s Kashiani upazila within hours of each other. The fatal collisions took place at the Panchabati and Fukra bus stand areas, highlighting ongoing safety concerns on the nation’s busy inter-district thoroughfares.
The first incident occurred at around 7:30 PM on Saturday, 19 September, near the Panchabati section of the highway. Seventy-five-year-old Freedom Fighter Omar Mir and fifty-year-old Jahid Mollah were walking along the shoulder of the road when an unidentified passenger bus struck them from behind. The impact was immediate and devastating. Jahid Mollah died at the scene from severe trauma. Local residents rushed to assist and transported the critically injured Omar Mir to the nearby Muksudpur Upazila Health Complex, where attending physicians pronounced him dead upon arrival.
Obaidul Kazi, a sub-inspector with the Bhanga Highway Police, confirmed the double fatality. Police officers dispatched to the scene compiled an official inquest report on the bodies before handing them over to the respective families following the completion of standard legal procedures.
Hours later, tragedy struck the same highway once again. At approximately 4:00 AM on Sunday, 20 September, an unidentified bus slammed into a three-wheeler engine-driven vehicle, locally known as a nasimon, near the Fukra bus stand area in Kashiani upazila. The driver, twenty-three-year-old Md Ibrahim Mollya, succumbed to his injuries on the spot. Ibrahim was a resident of Parameshwarshi village in the Boalmari upazila of neighbouring Faridpur district, and the son of A. Hakim Mollya.
Md Roknuzzaman, officer-in-charge of the Bhatiapara Highway Police Station, confirmed the details of the second crash. Highway police retrieved the body from the accident site and sent it to a local hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination. Following a formal request from the grieving family and the completion of necessary legal formalities, the young driver’s body was returned to his relatives for burial.
The dual tragedies have sent shockwaves through the local community, sparking renewed grief over the vulnerability of pedestrians and small vehicle operators on Bangladesh’s major highways. Authorities are continuing their investigations to identify the speeding buses involved in both hit-and-run incidents.
