The morning sun had not yet risen. Shortly after Fajr prayers, around 200 agricultural labourers -- some with gamchhas slung over their shoulders, others carrying small bags -- gathered at an informal labour market in Erulia Bazar, Bogura Sadar upazila.
They were waiting in the hope of securing a day’s work. But before many could find employment, tragedy struck. A speeding bus ploughed into the crowd, a witness said.
Habibur Rahman, 30, an agricultural worker from Enayetpur village in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj upazila, said there was currently no farm work available in his village.
“Meanwhile, the Aman paddy planting season was in full swing in Bogura Sadar, Kahaloo and Dupchanchia upazilas. Driven by poverty and the prospect of higher wages, 12 workers from our village came to Bogura 10 to 12 days ago,” he said.
“Back home, a full day of hard labour earned us only Tk 500 to Tk 700. In Bogura, however, contract work planting paddy paid Tk 800 to Tk 1,200 a day. That extra income was our only hope of keeping our families afloat,” he added.
“But those hopes were shattered in an instant. My uncle, Abu Sayed, 45, was among the seven people killed in the crash.”
“Sayed Chacha [uncle] was the sole breadwinner for his five-member family. His elderly parents were waiting at home for him to return. He was supposed to go back in just a few days, but the crash changed everything,” Habibur said.
It was not only workers from Habibur’s village. Around 250 to 300 day labourers from neighbouring districts gather at the informal labour market in Erulia every day before sunrise in search of work.
Upon receiving the tragic news, Abu Sayed’s wife, Rina Begum, rushed to Bogura Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital to claim her husband’s body.
As the sheet covering the stretcher was pulled back, her cries echoed through the hospital. Overcome with grief, she fainted repeatedly as relatives tried to console her.
“Where did you go, leaving me all alone?” she cried.
Md Borhan, 25, another worker from Enayetpur, recalled the terrifying moment to The Daily Star. A farmer from Kahaloo had just arrived at the market to hire labourers when a speeding bus swerved sharply to avoid a motorcycle.
The bus lost control, hit a roadside electric pole, spun around and ploughed into the crowd of waiting workers.
“Some managed to run to safety, but seven people were crushed under the bus. Most of those killed were the sole breadwinners of their families,” Borhan said.
Borhan appealed for government support for the victims’ families, warning that without assistance, many could be pushed into severe financial hardship.
According to eyewitnesses, police and hospital sources, five agricultural labourers and two farmers who had come to hire workers were killed in the crash on the Bogura-Naogaon regional highway. Nineteen others are receiving treatment in hospital, including two in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
