At least 19 killed in a bus accident in Bangladesh
Police say as many as 25 people were injured after a bus crashed into a highway fence and plunged into a roadside ditch.
At least 19 people have been killed and 25 others injured in Bangladesh after a bus crashed into a highway fence and fell into a roadside ditch in Bangladesh.
Police said they suspect the driver lost control at 8 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Sunday and crashed into a newly constructed major highway fence, sending the bus carrying more than 40 passengers plummeting nine meters (30 feet) in the trench. .
“The death toll rose to 19. At least 12 people were seriously injured. They were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in the capital,” local police chief Masood Alam told AFP following the incident in the southern district of Chebchar.
Anwar Hussain, a police official in Chebchar, where the accident took place, said the death toll could rise further if some of the injured passengers were in critical condition.
The city is 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the capital, Dhaka.
Road accidents are frequent in Bangladesh due to old and poorly maintained cars and roads, as well as poorly trained drivers. Fatal road accidents have soared despite the government saying it will reduce them by 50% by 2030.
In July last year, Nearly 400 people were killed Almost twice that number were injured in more than 300 road accidents in the two weeks around the Eid al-Adha holiday in Bangladesh.
According to the Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, 9,951 people were killed in road accidents in Bangladesh last year.
