At least six people, including two children, were killed and some 28 others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a fruit-laden truck in Dinajpur Sadar upazila yesterday morning.

The incident took place on the Dinajpur-Phulbari regional highway in Chawkrampur village adjacent to Panchbari Bazar around 6:00am.

Most of the victims were on the bus, said police.

The deceased were identified as truck driver Hasu Mia, 28, of Thakurgaon's Pirganj; bus supervisor Rajesh Bahadur, 30, of Dinajpur's ​​Bochaganj; bus driver's assistant Md Ali, of Pirganj; Jyna 5, daughter of Mominur Rahman of Dinajpur's Chirirbandar, Bibha Akhtar, 10, daughter of Jahid Hossain of Bochaganj, and passenger of a paddy-laden van Swadesh Chandra Roy, 30, of Chirirbandar.

Dinajpur Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Farid Hossain said, "A bus of Nabil Enterprise was traveling from Dhaka to Ranisankail upazila in Thakurgaon. Around 6:00am, as the bus approached Chawkrampur village, the driver lost control and collided with a speeding truck coming from the opposite direction."

Upon receiving the emergency call, police and the rescue response team from Dinajpur Fire Service and Civil Defence promptly arrived at the location.

They rescued 30 people, mostly passengers of the bus, and rushed them to M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital. Three of them died at the hospital.

The accident damaged the truck's cockpit and the front of the bus. Police had to cut through the mangled wreckage of both vehicles to recover the bodies. It took police an hour to clear the wreckage and restore road communication on the highway.

In a separate incident, later in the afternoon, a collision between a truck and a cattle-laden three-wheeler in Phulbari upazila resulted in two fatalities and four injuries.

The incident occurred around 2:00pm on the Dinajpur-Gobindaganj regional highway, near the Phulbari Upazila Health Complex in North Sujapur, said Phulbari Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mostafizar Rahman.

The deceased were identified as three-wheeler driver Menhazul, 40, and cattle trader Aman, 45, both from Joypurhat's Panchbibi upazila.

According to police and local sources, a truck was heading towards Dinajpur while the three-wheeler, carrying nine cattle, was travelling from Amabari Hat towards Panchbibi. As they reached the road bend near North Sujapur on the Dinajpur-Gobindaganj highway, a head-on collision with a truck severely damaged the front parts of both vehicles. Menhazul and Aman died on the spot.

Police and fire service personnel, along with locals, rescued the injured and took them to the health complex.