11 bus passengers were killed in a collision between train and bus at Puranapail rail gate in Joypurhat district. The accident has left 10 more people injured. The accident occurred in the morning of Saturday. After the accident rail communication between northern regions and other parts of the country has been snapped.  Fire Service official Sirajul Islam said, the train was heading towards Rajshahi from Parbatipur. A Joypurhat bound bus from Panchbibi was crossing the Puranapail rail gate at that time. At that moment the train hit the bus. The accident left 11 people dead on the spot and also left 10 people injured. The identities of the deceased and injured were yet to be known. After the accident Joypurhat Deputy Commissioner Shariful Islam visited the spot. He said that so far 11 dead bodies were recovered. 10 injured people were rescued and sent to the hospital. The incident will be investigated. AH 

At least eight people, including a 2-year-old child, were killed after a bus of state-owned transport corporation BRTC hit two autorickshaws in Habiganj. The accident occurred on the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway at Fultoli area in Nabiganj Upazila around 4:45pm on Monday. Police identified the victims as – Sabirun, 35, her daughter Maria, 2, sister-in-law Salima Akter, 25, Antar Mia 18, autorickshaw driver Kitab Ali, Liza Akter, 17, and Liton Mia, 30. The identity of the other victim could not be known immediately. People injured in the accident have been taken to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital. Ershadul Haq Bhuiya, the officer-in-charge of Sherpur Highway Police Station, said they fear the number of fatalities could rise. Locals said a Sylhet-bound BRTC bus collided head-on with a Paniumda-bound autorickshaw and then hit another autorickshaw before falling into a roadside ditch. Eight people, including drivers of the autorickshaws, were killed on the spot. Locals joined police and firefighters in the rescue. Traffic on the busy road remained halted for about an hour. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. It was also unclear if anyone had been arrested over the accident or a case was filed. Road accidents continue to rise in Bangladesh with the country seeing 439 deaths in 417 accidents last month, according to Road Safety Foundation (RSF), an organisation working to ensure safer roads. RSF said 383 people were killed in 314 accidents in October last. Nirapad Sarak Chai, a road safety advocacy group, in a report said that 5,227 people were killed in 4,702 road accidents in Bangladesh last year. In a report released in February this year, the World Bank said Bangladesh needs to invest an estimated extra $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities. The report pointed to the high death rate on Bangladesh’s roads caused by chronic lack of investment in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes. Source: UNB AH

At least 13 people, including six members of a family, were killed, and 10 others were injured in road crashes on Friday in Manikganj and Tangail. In Manikganj, seven people including six members of a family were killed as a bus collided head-on with a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Daulatpur's Mulakandi. The deceased – Harekrishna Baddokar, 60, Khushi Baddokar, 50, Gobinda Baddokar, 30, Babita Baddokar, 26, Radhe Baddokar, 5, Ramprasad Baddokar, 30, auto-rickshaw driver Jamal Sheikh, 32 – were residents of Tangail's Nagarpur upazila. Daulatpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Rezaul Karim said the victims were going to Manikganj while a bus hit their auto-rickshaw at 2:45pm, killing seven on the spot. "Police seized the bus, but its driver and his assistant managed to flee. Also, six people were killed, and 10 others were injured in a road crash on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway in Tangail's Mirzapur. A Dhaka-bound bus of Sheba Classic Paribahan was parked beside the road for repairs when it reached Mirzapur's Kurni, Gorai Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Mozaffar Hossain said. As the passengers got off the bus and stood nearby, a speeding truck hit the bus from behind, killing four on the spot. Two more died after being taken to hospital. And three of the injured are in critical condition, Mozaffar said. "The truck driver managed to flee." Road crashes in Bangladesh: Meanwhile, the country witnessed 388 road accidents in June that left 459 people dead and 618 injured, according to passengers' welfare body Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity. The number of road accidents in the country rose 56% and fatalities 57% in June compared to May, it said. During this time, 368 people were killed and 518 others injured in 358 road, railway, and waterway accidents. In 2019, 8,543 people were killed and 14,318 injured in 6,210 road, railway, and waterway accidents. Of them, 5,516 road accidents left 7,855 people dead and 13,330 injured. Deaths in road crashes rose 8.07% in 2019 compared to 2018. Reckless driving, risky overtaking, dilapidated roads, unfit vehicles, unskilled drivers, using mobile phones or headphones while driving, and lack of awareness among road users were cited as main reasons behind road crashes. Source: UNB AH

Awami League candidate Mohammad Habib Hasan was unofficially elected in Dhaka-18 by-polls held with the use of EVMs amid a low turnout on Thursday. Habib won the election beating his nearest rival BNP contender SM Jahangir Hossain by a huge margin of over 70,000 votes. Habib secured 75,820 votes, while Jahangir bagged only 5,369 votes, according to the unofficial election result announced by Returning Officer ZM Sahatab Uddin. Besides, Jatiya Party contestant Md Nasir Uddin Sarkat got only 325 votes, Gano Front’s Kazi Md Shahidullah got 126 votes, Bangladesh Congress’s Md Umar Faruk obtained 91 votes and PDP’s Md Mohibullah Bahar secured 87 votes. The voter turnout was only 14.18 percent as 81,818 out of total 5,77,116 votes were cast at 217 polling stations in the parliamentary seat comprising the 14 wards and airport area under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). The DNCC wards are 1, 17 and 43-54 located in Uttara and Cantonment and Gulshan Thana. Dhaka-18 constituency fell vacant after the death of former home minister and Awami League MP Sahara Khatun on July 9. Source: UNB AH

The Chinese Embassy in Dhaka has reacted to US' claim that China has done very little to resolve the Rohingya issue terming it "inappropriate and not constructive at all". The Embassy in a post shared on its verified Facebook page said Stephen E Biegun, US Deputy Secretary of State, during a press briefing in Washington D.C. summarising his trip to India and Bangladesh said that China “has unfortunately done very little to help resolve the Rohingya issue”. "It is everybody’s expectation that Biegun’s visit should focus on the Bangladesh-US relationship," said the Embassy. Biegun, the Embassy said, had started making groundless accusations against China on October 15 even before he left Bangladesh, with reference to China-India border conflicts, tension in the Taiwan Strait, issues in the South China Sea and the Hong Kong national security legislation, which have nothing to do with Bangladesh. "Such behavior is not only a severe breach of diplomatic protocols, but also a huge disrespect for Bangladesh, the host of his visit, a peace-loving nation who believes “friendship to all and malice to none” should be the way to do diplomacy," reads the Embassy post. The Embassy said Biegun’s remarks on October 20 is simply a continuation of such behavior, using the Rohingya issue, the gravest concern of Bangladesh, to criticise China and ‘promulgate his own bias’. Since China and the US have plenty of bilateral channels to solve their problems, Biegun should not have dragged any third party in without prior consent, said the Embassy, mentioning that they both have come here for friendship with Bangladesh. Since 2017, China has chaired three rounds of ministerial-level meetings on the Rohingya issue and numerous bilateral and tripartite consultations at the working level, aiming at early repatriation, said the Embassy. "Our political and humanitarian efforts started at the very beginning and will continue until a duration solution is found," it said. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a telephonic conversation with his Bangladesh counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday evening and said Myanmar recently assured them (China) of taking back Rohingyas who are temporarily taking shelter in Bangladesh. Source: UNB AH