Staff Reporter:
At least 360 students were killed and 109 injured in around 320 road accidents across the country during the first six months of 2026, according to the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity.
The organisation disclosed the figures in a statement issued on Saturday to mark the 15th anniversary of the Mirsarai tragedy.
Jatri Kalyan Samity Secretary General Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury said the continued loss of young lives highlights the need for regular road safety awareness programmes for students, teachers and guardians.
“Raising awareness among students can help build safer roads and a more disciplined nation,” he said.
According to the organisation’s data, 57 students were killed and 22 injured in 57 road accidents in January. In February, 47 students lost their lives and 11 were injured in 39 accidents.
March was the deadliest month, with 67 students killed in 59 accidents, although only one injury was reported. In April, 56 students were killed and 25 injured in 51 accidents. May recorded the highest number of accidents—61—which claimed 73 student lives and injured 23 others. In June, 60 students were killed and 27 injured in 53 accidents.
Recalling the Mirsarai tragedy of 11 July 2011, Mozammel said a mini-truck carrying students from several schools in Chattogram’s Mirsarai upazila plunged into a roadside ditch, killing 45 people, most of them students.
He alleged that no comprehensive government road safety awareness programme for students has been introduced since the tragedy. As a result, he said, road accidents continue to claim the lives of students every year, while many others are left injured or permanently disabled.
Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed in separate road accidents in Faridpur and Gazipur districts on Saturday.
In Faridpur, five people were killed and several others injured after a passenger bus crashed into a broken-down pick-up van on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in Bhanga upazila at around 8pm.
Officer-in-Charge of Bhanga highway police station Helal Uddin said a Khulna-bound Narail Express bus from Dhaka rammed the stationary pick-up van in the Swadi area, killing five people on the spot. The identities of the deceased could not be confirmed immediately.
Following the crash, angry locals seized the bus and set it on fire. Members of the Highway Police and Fire Service rescued the injured and took them to Bhanga Upazila Health Complex.
In Gazipur, three members of a family, including a nine-month-old child, were killed after a speeding covered van hit their motorcycle on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway near Gilarchala in Sreepur upazila.
The deceased were identified as Rakib Hasan, 42, his wife Bithi Akter, 27, and their son, Md Nur. Bithi died on the spot, while Rakib and the child succumbed to their injuries on the way to hospital.
Maona highway police station Officer-in-Charge Md Kamruzzaman said the driver fled the scene with the covered van.
