A driver transporting pharmaceutical supplies was killed on Thursday morning following a head-on collision between his microbus and a long-distance passenger coach in Gaibandha’s Palashbari sub-district. The collision, which occurred around 10:00 am in the Majhipara area along the Gaibandha–Palashbari highway, also left a passenger seriously injured.

The deceased driver was identified as 40-year-old Masud Rana, son of Fayzar Rahman, hailing from Bashgara village in Thakurgaon Sadar Upazila. Emergency responders rescued the injured passenger, Md Sani, from the wreckage and admitted him to Gaibandha General Hospital for treatment. Full details regarding Sani’s background and current medical condition remain unconfirmed.

Witness accounts and police reports indicate that the incident unfolded when a Dhaka-bound passenger coach operated by Al-Hamra Paribahan collided directly with the oncoming medical supply microbus. The impact sent the bus veering off the carriageway and into a roadside ditch. Meanwhile, the front end of the microbus was utterly destroyed, trapping Rana inside the crushed cabin.

Fire service personnel arrived shortly after receiving emergency calls to undertake a recovery operation. Working through the mangled metal, firefighters retrieved Rana’s body, though he had succumbed to fatal injuries at the scene.

Sarwar Alam Khan, Officer-in-Charge of Palashbari Police Station, confirmed the casualty and stated that police secured the crash site, recovered the victim’s body, and impounded the Al-Hamra Paribahan bus. Both the bus driver and his assistant fled the scene immediately following the crash to evade arrest. Officers are conducting drives to track down the absconding transport workers.

The accident caused a temporary traffic bottleneck along the Gaibandha–Palashbari highway, a crucial regional connector used heavily by inter-district buses, commercial vans, and private freight. Local police cleared the damaged vehicles from the roadway to restore normal traffic flow. While an investigation into the precise cause of the crash is under way, local residents noted that reckless overtaking and excessive speeding on two-lane arterial roads continue to pose severe risks to commercial drivers and commuters alike. Legal proceedings regarding the incident are currently in motion.