Garment worker rammed by truck dies in Gazipur, protesters block highway

A textile worker has died in a road accident in Gazipur’s Gacha on Tuesday morning, leading to protests that brought traffic to a standstill on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.

The incident occurred around 8:30am, confirmed Gacha Police Station chief Ali Mohammad Rashed.

The deceased has been identified as 18-year-old Champa Begum, an employee at local garment factory Interloop BD. She hailed from Hararkandi village in Netrokona.

Police and witnesses reported that Champa was on her way to work when she was hit by a truck near the Hariken bus stand. She died upon impact.

Later, her fellow workers and locals took to the streets in protest, blocking the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway. This caused severe congestion and brought traffic to a halt.

Law enforcing officers intervened, dispersing the crowd with baton charges. The traffic normalised around 11:00am.

Rashed said that garment workers planned the blockade in response to their colleague’s death. Police and army personnel had to be deployed to the area to reopen the highway.