Five killed in ambulance-pickup van collision

Five people were killed and five others injured as an ambulance and a pickup van collided head-on in Kalihati upazila of Tangail district on Saturday.

The deceased were identified as the ambulance driver, Saddam Hossain, 29, son of Al Mamun, a resident of Chala village in Ullapara upazila, and his assistant Jewel, 28, son of Razzak Mondal, of Raninagar village under Salanga Thana in Sirajganj; Farida, 36, wife of Moksed, a cancer patient and resident of Chattogram EPZ area, her daughter Maria Akter, 15, and Ferdousi Begum, 40, wife of Ilyas of the same area.

Bangabandhu Bridge East Police Station officer in-charge Shahidul Islam confirmed their identities.

He said an ambulance carrying a cancer patient collided head-on with a pickup van in Hatia area on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge Highway this morning, leaving three dead on the spot and seven others hurt.

The injured were rushed to Tangail General Hospital where two more died, Shahidul added.

Arif-Ur-Rahman Togor/MIT/SU