Three killed as bus collides head-on with ambulance in Pabna

Three people were killed and several others injured after a passenger bus collided head-on with an ambulance carrying the body of a child on the Pabna-Dhaka Highway in Pabna's Sadar upazila on Thursday morning (July 16).

The accident took place around 7:30am in the Koroitola area of Saradangi under Ataikula Police Station.

The deceased were identified as Salim Pramanik, 65, and his wife Bulu Khatun, 55, of Mahmudpur village in Sathia upazila, and ambulance driver Raj Hossain, 35, a resident of North Shalgaria in Pabna municipality.

According to Madhpur Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mahbubur Rahman, the ambulance was transporting the body of a child, who had died of kidney-related complications, from Rajshahi to the family's home in Sathia.

On its way, the ambulance collided head-on with a Pabna Express passenger bus travelling towards Pabna.

The impact killed ambulance driver Raj Hossain and the child's grandmother, Bulu Khatun, on the spot. Salim Pramanik, who sustained critical injuries, was rushed to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, where doctors later declared him dead.

Highway police recovered the bodies and sent the injured to Pabna General Hospital for treatment.

Both the bus and the ambulance have been seized, while police have launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the crash. Legal proceedings are underway, police said.