The two incidents, 12 years apart but on the same date in the same upazila, come amid a high road accident death toll nationwide.
TBS Report
20 October, 2026, 12:40 pm
Last modified: 20 October, 2026, 12:42 pm
At least 14 people were killed in a road crash in Natore's Baraigram upazila today (20 October), the same date that 35 people died in a collision between two buses in the area 12 years ago, bringing renewed attention to the toll of road accidents in Bangladesh.
The latest crash occurred around 4:30am in the Sarkarpara area of the Natore-Pabna highway, when a passenger bus collided head-on with a sand-laden truck. Around 30 people were injured, several of them critically.
In the 2014 crash, a Dhaka-to-Rajshahi bus operated by Keya Paribahan collided with an Athoi Paribahan bus travelling from Natore to Gurudaspur on the Bonpara-Hatikumrul highway. At least 35 people were killed and dozens injured.
The two incidents, 12 years apart but on the same date in the same upazila, come amid a high road accident death toll nationwide.
According to the Road Safety Foundation, 9,111 people were killed in road accidents in Bangladesh in 2025. In September 2026 alone, 423 people died in road crashes.
The figures highlight the scale of the road safety challenge, even as the two crashes in Baraigram involved different circumstances.
In 2014, witnesses said the Keya Paribahan bus had overtaken a truck before colliding with the oncoming bus. Both vehicles went off the road on impact, with one plunging into Chalan Beel and the other into a ditch.
In today's crash, the bus was travelling from Barguna to Chapainawabganj when it collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction, said Shamim Hossain, a sub-inspector at Bonpara Police Outpost.
Fire Service official Akhtar Hamid Khan said nine bodies were recovered from the scene and five more people died after being taken to hospital. The injured were taken to hospitals in Natore and Rajshahi.
Following the 2014 accident, a three-member committee headed by Natore Additional District Magistrate Mohammad Ali was formed to investigate the crash and asked to submit its report within three working days.