20 killed as 2 buses collide in Comilla

COMILLA, Bangladesh, July 8 (BSS) - At least 20 people, including three women, were killed in a road accident at Mohammadpur near Eliotganj under Daudkandi upazila on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway here this morning, police said.

They said the tragic accident occurred at 8.45 am when a Dhaka-bound passenger bus of `Starline Paribahan' fell into a roadside ditch after it collided head-on with a Comilla-boundbus.

Twenty passengers, who were also injured in the accident, were admitted to Comilla, Daudkandi and Chandina hospitals,police said, adding that the Comilla-bound was badly damaged.

Getting information, police rushed to spot and recovered thebodies of seven passengers, including a woman.

Later, firefighters and police pulled the bus from the ditch with a wrecker where 13 bodies were found, including two womenand the driver of the bus.

Twelve of the dead were identified. They are Nasir, 42, Salma, 30, Abdul Mannan, 20, Bacchu Mia, 50, Azizul Haque, 50, and Selim, 34, of Chhagalnaiya, Habibur Rahman, 30, Akhtar Hossain, 40, and Mahbub, 43, Alam of Feni, Nayan, 45, the driverof the bus, and Abul Hashem, 45, of Fulgazi, Feni.

Hundreds of vehicles remained stranded on both sides of the highway as the traffic movement was suspended for four hoursafter the accident, police said.

The deputy commissioner, the police super, and other civiland police officials of the district visited the spot.