At least eight people, including seven members of a family, were killed as an ambulance bursts into flames after hitting the roadside railings of the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway in Maligram area under Bhanga upazila of Faridpur district on Saturday.
The deceased were identified as Tashlima Begum, 55, her daughter Kamala Parveen, 26, Beauty Begum, 24, grandchildren Hasib, 8, Hafsam, 2, Arif, 12, and Mehedi , 12, all residents of Felannagar village in Gunbaha Union of Boalmari Upazila in Faridpur, and ambulance driver Mitul, 25, of Lakshmipur Mohalla under Faridpur town.
According to locals and police, Tashlima, the wife of Azizar Rahman, a Saudi expatriate of the upazila, came to Dhaka a month ago and was at the residence of her elder daughter Kamala Parveen after treatment. They left Dhaka for home on Saturday morning and the ambulance caught fire after the gas cylinder burst when the vehicle hit the roadside railings of the expressway around 11am.
Seven people were killed on the spot and driver Mitul was injured, Boalmari Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mosharef Hossain said.
Mitul was admitted to Faridpur Medical College Hospital at 12:10pm. When his condition worsened, he died on the way from Faridpur to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital at around 3pm, Faridpur Katwali police OC Abdul Jalil said.
Police and Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel recovered the bodies from the spot after the incident.
Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Kamrul Ahsan Talukder said that a three-member investigation committee, headed by Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Bipul Chandra Dey, has been formed to investigate the incident.
They will submit their report within three working days. The district administration will pay Tk 20,000 to each of the victims and Tk 10,000 to the injured.
