A leisurely evening ride turned into an unimaginable disaster on Saturday evening when a high-speed collision between a passenger bus and a motorcycle claimed the lives of three childhood friends on the Dhaka-Barishal highway. The accident occurred at approximately 7:00 PM near the Naupara bus stand area within the Bhanga municipality limits, casting a heavy pall of grief over their native village in Faridpur.
The victims have been identified as Chayan Mollah, 23, Siyam Mollah, 23, and Noyon Hossain, 21. Among them, Chayan was a Saudi expatriate who died instantly at the scene from severe impact injuries. His two companions, Siyam and Noyon, sustained critical injuries and succumbed to them around 10:00 PM while being rushed towards Dhaka via Keraniganj in an ambulance.
The young men hailed from Hasnahati village in the neighbouring Nagarkanda upazila. Chayan Mollah, son of Dalil Uddin Mandal, had returned home from Saudi Arabia on leave for the Eid-ul-Azha festival. Siyam Mollah, also an expatriate worker in Saudi Arabia and the son of Asgar Mollah, had arrived back in Bangladesh just twenty days prior to the incident. The third victim, Noyon Hossain, son of Enayet Hossain, had previously spent several months working in Kurdistan before returning home roughly a year ago. Back in Bangladesh, he was employed as a delivery rider for a local courier service operating in the Nagarkanda area.
According to details shared by the authorities, the three friends had set out on a motorcycle late Saturday afternoon. They travelled from Laskarddia union in Nagarkanda to the busy Bhanga roundabout and surrounding areas for a casual ride. As they headed home after sunset, their motorcycle reached the Naupara bus stand area, where it collided head-on with an oncoming passenger bus coming from the opposite direction.
Local representatives have spoken about the profound shock rippling through the community. Md Kaiyum Mia, a member of Ward 9 of Laskarddia Union Council and a resident of Hasnahati village, noted that Chayan’s funeral prayers were held late Saturday night. The bodies of Noyon and Siyam were brought back to the village the following morning. Because they were of a similar age, the three young men were inseparable companions who spent much of their time together, making the collective loss particularly devastating for their families and neighbours.
Law enforcement agencies are actively investigating the incident to trace the vehicle involved. Sergeant Azadur Rahman of the Bhanga Highway Police Station confirmed that authorities have yet to locate the passenger bus responsible for the collision, as the vehicle fled the scene immediately after the impact. Efforts to track down the fleeing bus and its driver are currently ongoing to establish accountability for the crash.
