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| Hundreds of Bangladeshi people crowd at the Sadargate terminal for a vessel to get home on the eve of Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Dec. 8, 2008. Muslims worldwide are celebrating Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, commemorating God's provision of a ram to substitute for Abraham's impending sacrifice of his son, where able Muslims offer either a goat, sheep, cow, buffalo, or camel during the feast rituals. Bangladesh will celebrate Eid al-Adha Tuesday. | ||
Some 31 homebound people were killed and 86 others injured in different road accidents in Bangladesh on Monday, one day before the Muslims' second largest festival Eid-ul-Azha, private news agency UNB reported.
The news agency quoted the police as saying that rush driving on the eve of the Eid festival, feast of sacrifice, was the main reason for the accidents which took place in different districts in the country.
In the morning, five people were killed and 10 injured as a bus rammed into a smaller vehicle on highway near capital city Dhaka at about 8:30 a.m. local time (02:30 GMT).
In central district Tangail, 92 km northwest of capital Dhaka, 13 people were killed and 31 injured when two trucks collided near Jamuna Bridge, the longest bridge in Bangladesh, in Monday afternoon.
In another accident in Tangail, at least four people were killed and six injured in a head-on collision between a truck and a bus in the afternoon.
In southeastern Khagrachari district, 259 km southeast of Dhaka, five women were killed and 35 other people injured as a bus skidded off the hilly road and rolled 250 to 300 feet down into a ravine on Monday afternoon.
In western Magura district, about 150 km southwest of Dhaka, two women were killed and three other people injured when a private car crashed into a roadside electric pole as its driver lost his control over the steering.
In northern Mymensingh district, about 122 km north of Dhaka, two people were killed and another was injured when a bus rammed a rickshaw on Monday evening.
Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rates for road accidents in the world. More than 10,000 people are killed in various road accidents in the country every year, according to official statistics.
The road accidents took place easily especially before and during the Eid festival as millions of people across the country rushed home to celebrate the festival with their family.
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