The bus carrying about 80 wedding guests to Anwara from the port city slammed into the truck loaded with heavy logs at a sharp turn in Charpatharghata under Karnaphuli Police Station at about 12:30am.

Local people blamed the accident on the police, who they said chased the truck in a desperate hunt for toll, sending it running full-pelt on Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Road. The truck that did not use a number plate is suspected to have been smuggling logs.

The locals also blamed another truck parked on the road, which was unloading earth for filling up a nearby plot, blocking the view of the drivers.

Eleven people, including the drivers and helpers of both vehicles, died instantly and six died on their way to hospital. The rest bled to death before or after their names could be registered with Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), triggering fears of more casualties.

The wedding guests were returning home from an evening marriage ceremony of Mohammad Iqbal, a mason, in Dhanialapara in Double Mooring.

Ali Bhanderi, another driver, who was close to the scene, said the earth-filled truck occupied part of the road and narrowed the turning point, leading to the accident.

"We helped retrieve 11 bodies, including three from the log-laden truck," Bhanderi told The Daily Star on the scene yesterday morning.

Azizul Haq, the only survivor from the truck, alleged the police chased them all the way from Patiya College Road until they met the tragic accident.

A helper of the truck, Azizul said the truck coming from Cox's Bazar was to unload logs at a timber shop in the Ek Kilometer area near the Bahodderhat intersection.

As they reached Patiya College Road, some police personnel stopped the truck and the log owner, Kamal Pasha, who was following them on a motor cycle, handed over 'something' to the policemen before signalling them to go ahead, Azizul added.

"As the truck started moving again with Kamal Pasha following, the policemen suddenly began chasing it. For some reason they all looked angry," Azizul continued.

Meanwhile, a witness, preferring anonymity, alleged that some policemen appeared on the scene right after the accident and removed the number plate from the truck.

However, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Karnaphuli Police Station Md. Harun told The Daily Star they arrived there less than half an hour after the accident but did not find any number plate on the truck.

Cries of shocked relatives filled the air as members and chairmen of different unions and other local people visited the scene, he said.

Karnaphuli police and firemen recovered the bodies and sent the injured to the hospital with the help of local people.

A shocked silence reigned when some of the injured at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) narrated the harrowing experience yesterday.

Noorjahan, 40, grimacing in pain on the floor of the neuro-surgery ward, was in no condition to speak. Four of her five sons injured in the accident were undergoing treatment at the same ward. But she was yet to know that her husband and son had died.

"I was sitting in the back seat and jumped out of the bus through an window moments after the collision," said Shahidul Islam, the eight-year-old son of Noorjahan, to The Daily Star yesterday afternoon.

Dilwara Begum, 35, wife of Liakat Hossain, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Dubai, narrowly survived the crash but lost teenage sister-in-law (Liakat's sister) Sahila Akhtar and her two children were critically injured.

She was wailing as son Mohammad Nizamuddin, 10, and daughter Nipa Akhtar, 9, lay unconscious at ward No.28 at around 2.30pm yesterday.

"I was sitting in a rear seat with my daughter and son on the lap. As the bus started, Sahila took both of them to the front to have a better view of the passing objects of nature. But at the end, all she had was a painful death," Dilwara said lamenting the fate of her minor sister-in-law.

Describing the nightmare, she added,"I was virtually buried under 30 to 40 injured or dead passengers. I could hardly breathe. After a few minutes, I pushed through the bodies."

Another elderly woman, Hosne Ara Begum, was looking for help from anybody she saw at Ward No-28 as her 10-year-old niece Yasmin had lapsed into unconsciousness.

Yasmin's eight-year-old brother Jahidul had died in the accident while her mother Rabeya Khatun was fatally injured.

Dr Ajoy Dev and Dr Salahuddin, on-duty CMCH physicians, said they received around 65 injured people, nine of whom died later.

CMCH Director Taufiqul Alam visited the injured and called in another two physicians in Dr Habibur Rahman and Dr Halim to tackle the situation and ensure proper treatment of the patients.

The CMCH director told The Daily Star that there was a sufficient stock of blood and medicines and all physicians and other hospital staff were putting in all efforts to treat the injured.

CMCH Resident Surgeon Dr Motiar Rahman Khan feared the death toll might go up as many suffered serious head injuries in the crash. He however said treatment would be quick and adequate.

"We upgraded our treatment facility as part of a disaster management plan after the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka. We are capable of treating about 200 patients at a time," Dr Khan said.