At least three activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami were killed and 35 others were injured when two buses carrying them collided head-on with a truck on Rajshahi-Dhaka highway near Varendra University in Rajshahi on Monday.
The deceased, Jewel Ahmed, 40, Nasim Uddin, 45, and Mizanur Rahman, 32, were residents of Ghora Pakhia village under Shibganj in Chapainawabganj.
According to the police and the Jamaat leaders, 95 Jamaat leaders and activists of Ranihati union unit were travelling in two buses to visit the graves of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Abdul Quader Mollah, as well as to tour the Padma Bridge and the Sixty Dome Mosque in Bagerhat.
When the buses reached near the Varendra University at around 12:00am, one of the buses that was in front collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction and fell into a roadside ditch filled with water.
The other bus also collided with the truck, crashed into a shop on the opposite side of the road, and part of it caught fire.
Initially, people of the area went to the scene and rescued the passengers and took them to the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. Later, members of the fire service joined the rescue operation, they said.
Ariful Islam, team leader of Rajshahi University Fire Service and Civil Defence, said that two of the bus passengers died on the spot while another died on his way to the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
Matiar Rahman, officer-in-charge of Chandrima police station, said that a case would be lodged with the police station over the accident.
