Just hours after their wedding on Thursday, bride Marzia Akter Mitu and groom Sabbir were travelling on a microbus with their relatives to the groom’s home in Mongla when tragedy struck on the Mongla–Khulna highway.
Thirteen members of the two families, including a newly married bride and groom, were killed in a head-on collision between the microbus and a Bangladesh Navy bus. The crash occurred near Belai Bridge in Bagerhat’s Rampal area.
Katakhali Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Jafar Ahmed said the Navy bus, which had left Mongla, collided with a Mongla-bound microbus coming from Koyra in Khulna.
“The microbus was badly mangled in the crash. Two children who were in the vehicle also died,” he said.
Witnesses said the impact produced a loud bang and crushed the front portions of both vehicles, leaving several passengers dead on the spot and others critically injured.
Khulna Medical College Hospital emergency department physician Mehnaz Mosharraf said the hospital initially received seven bodies from the same family.
“Among them were three women, two infants aged under one year, a 13-year-old child, and three men. Two of the men were the microbus driver and family head Abdur Razzaq,” she said.
Police later confirmed that all passengers travelling in the microbus had died.
The deceased included Mongla municipality BNP Ward-8 President Abdur Razzaq, members of his family, relatives of his son Sabbir’s newly married wife, and the vehicle’s driver.
Abu Taher, the maternal uncle of the deceased bride Mitu, said the wedding took place earlier on Thursday afternoon in Naksha village of Koyra upazila in Khulna.
The wedding party was travelling by microbus towards the groom’s home in Shelabunia in Mongla when the accident occurred near Rampal.
“Mitu, her sister Lamia and their grandmother died in the crash. Eight others, including the groom, also died,” he said.
Road accidents and fatalities continue to rise across the country mainly because of reckless driving.
Data from the Road Safety Foundation show that 7,359 people were killed and 16,476 injured in road accidents in 2025. Among the victims were 962 women and 1,008 children.
The organisation also reported that 432 people were killed in 517 road accidents across the country in February alone, while 1,068 others were injured.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Civil Engineering Professor Hadiuzzaman said road infrastructure has improved over the past two decades, allowing vehicles to move faster, but other factors have not kept pace.
“Drivers, passengers and pedestrians must become more aware about road safety, and the government must take science-based decisions. Political decisions alone cannot reduce road accidents,” he said.
