A joyous wedding celebration turned into an unimaginable tragedy when a high-speed collision between a covered van and a microbus claimed four lives on the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway. Eleven other passengers sustained severe injuries in the accident, which has cast a profound shadow of grief over the local community.
The devastating incident occurred late Saturday night at approximately 02:30 AM in the Shikalbaha Choumuhani area of Karnaphuli upazila. According to police and eyewitness accounts, the victims were returning home to Eidgah in Cox’s Bazar after attending a wedding reception at a community centre in Chattogram city’s Agrabad area. As their chartered microbus approached the Shikalbaha Choumuhani junction, a covered van suddenly took an unceremonious U-turn without adequate caution. The microbus crashed violently head-on into the heavy vehicle, leaving the front end of the passenger carrier completely mangled and crushed.
The impact of the crash was instantaneous and fatal for two individuals at the scene: five-year-old Md Ferdous Alam and seventeen-year-old Miftah. Local residents rushed to the dark stretch of the highway upon hearing the deafening crash, immediately alerting the emergency services. Police and fire service units arrived swiftly, pulling the trapped and bleeding passengers from the wreckage. Eleven injured people were rushed to the Chattogram Medical College Hospital for urgent medical attention. Despite the best efforts of the medical staff, the microbus driver, Munna, aged 40, passed away while undergoing treatment alongside another unidentified victim, bringing the death toll to four.
Karnaphuli Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nur Ahmad confirmed the grim details of the accident. Law enforcement officers secured the perimeter immediately following the emergency call, recovering the deceased and coordinating hospital transfers for the wounded. The authorities have successfully seized the involved covered van, although both the driver and his assistant managed to flee the scene under the cover of darkness. Police teams are currently conducting targeted operations to apprehend the absconding driver.
Road safety advocates have repeatedly raised concerns regarding dangerous driving habits and unauthorized U-turns along major regional highways during late-night hours. Families who gathered to celebrate a union of love are now left making heartbreaking funeral arrangements, mourning the sudden and violent loss of young lives on a journey that should have ended safely at home.
