13 dead as truck crashes into workers’ huts in Bangladesh

Bodies of victims are laid out after a truck loaded with coal overturned and crashed into their huts at a brickfield in Cumilla district, Bangladesh, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. The driver lost control of the truck when it plowed into the housing units as the workers were asleep, local police chief Mahfuzur Rahman said. He said a dozen workers died at the scene while another succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital. (AP Photo/Shahnewaz Sumon)

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A truck loaded with coal overturned and crashed into workers’ huts at a brickfield early Friday in eastern Bangladesh, leaving 13 dead and two injured, police said.

The driver lost control of the truck when it plowed into the housing units as the workers were asleep at Chauddogram in Cumilla district, local police chief Mahfuzur Rahman said. It was not immediately clear what happened to the driver.

He said a dozen workers died at the scene while another succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital. Two others were being treated.

Cumilla is 84 kilometers (52 miles) southeast of Dhaka, the capital.

Road accidents are common and about 12,000 people die each year in Bangladesh because of lax enforcement of traffic laws, reckless driving and bad roads. /kga