An auto-rickshaw driver and a passenger were killed after a speeding truck travelling on the wrong side of the road crashed into their vehicle in Dhaka’s Jatrabari area early today.

The deceased was identified as Firoz Ahmed, 50, driver of the auto-rickshaw. The identity of the passenger, aged around 55, could not be confirmed, said Jatrabari Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Razu.

Quoting eyewitnesses, the OC said, the accident occurred around 1:00am near the Mirhajirbagh kitchen market in Jatrabari. Passersby rescued the two in critical condition and took them to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared them dead around 2:00am.

The bodies had been sent to the morgue for autopsy. While the driver’s identity has been confirmed, efforts are underway to identify the passenger, the police official said.

Police have seized the truck involved in the crash and detained its driver shortly after the incident.