A family journey ended in tragedy on Thursday morning when an unidentified passenger bus struck an auto-rickshaw along the Naogaon-Rajshahi highway, killing a 65-year-old man. The fatal incident occurred around 9:00 am in the Bablatali area under Manda upazila, following which the speeding bus immediately fled the scene.
The victim, identified as Abdus Sobhan, was a resident of Dargapara Rajapur in Naogaon’s Niamatpur upazila. According to family members, Sobhan had left home earlier in the morning accompanied by his seven-year-old grandson to visit his daughter in Shantahar, located within the Adamdighi upazila of Bogura district.
Eyewitnesses and police accounts indicate that the pair first reached Manda Ferryghat before boarding a local battery-powered auto-rickshaw bound for the Baludanga bus terminal in Naogaon town. From there, they had intended to catch a inter-district bus to complete their journey to Shantahar. However, as the auto-rickshaw traversed the Bablatali section of the highway, a passenger vehicle struck it violently. The heavy impact damaged the light vehicle and threw Sobhan onto the tarmac, causing severe head and body injuries.
Local residents rushed to the scene and transported the critically injured man to the Manda Upazila Health Complex. Attending physicians declared him dead on arrival. Detailed information regarding the physical condition of his seven-year-old grandson was not immediately available following the accident.
Officers from Manda Police Station arrived shortly after the incident, taking custody of the body at the health complex. Sub-Inspector Abul Kalam Azad confirmed the casualty, stating that police have initiated formal legal proceedings and will hand over the deceased to his family upon completion of mandatory inquest formalities.
Because the bus sped away immediately after the crash, authorities have yet to identify the vehicle or its registration number. Police are gathering statements from roadside witnesses and reviewing regional traffic movements along the Naogaon-Rajshahi corridor to trace the driver.
The Naogaon-Rajshahi highway functions as a vital regional artery, supporting heavy daily traffic including long-distance coaches, auto-rickshaws, and three-wheelers. The co-existence of high-speed commercial traffic and slow-moving light vehicles on narrow highway lanes continues to heighten the risk of severe collisions across northern Bangladesh. Police investigations into the Bablatali fatal collision remain ongoing.
