A motorcyclist, Mohabbat Hossain, 28, died after his motorcycle struck an animal crossing the Jashore-Magura highway at Gaidghat in Bandabila union of Jashore's Bagharpara upazila on the night of Tuesday 30 June 2026. He died at around 1.30am on the way to Dhaka for better treatment. Jagonews24 reported that the animal was a jackal; Prothom Alo reported that it was a jungle cat.
Mohabbat was the son of Saidur Mondal of Rajapur village in Ichhali union, Jashore Sadar upazila; Jagonews24 said he was his only son. He ran a furniture business in front of Government Shaheed Sirajuddin Hossain College at Khajura in Bagharpara.
How the crash happened
Citing police and local people, both outlets said Mohabbat had finished business work and eaten dinner at his maternal aunt's house in the Simakhali area of Shalikha upazila, Magura, and was riding back to Jashore. According to Jagonews24, at around 9.30pm a jackal suddenly tried to cross the highway at Gaidghat, the motorcycle hit it and he was thrown onto the road.
Prothom Alo gave a somewhat different account. It said Mohabbat was riding with an employee from his shop on the pillion. At around 10.45pm a jungle cat crossing the road collided with the motorcycle, which went out of control and crashed into an arjun tree by the roadside. Mohabbat suffered serious head injuries and his colleague was also hurt; police could not give details of the colleague's name or condition.
He was taken to the 250-bed Jashore General Hospital and then sent on towards Dhaka; Prothom Alo said he died in the Muksudpur area of Gopalganj. Rezaul Islam, member for Ward 2 of Ichhali union, told Jagonews24 on the morning of 1 July: "In the accident the motorcyclist's lungs burst, and he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. He died on the way from Jashore to Dhaka for better treatment."
Bagharpara police station officer-in-charge Mahmudul Hasan confirmed that Mohabbat Hossain had died in a road accident. Sub-inspector Feroz Hossain of the Khajura police camp told Prothom Alo that police reached the scene at around 11pm after a call to the national emergency number 999, sent the injured man to hospital, and that legal procedures were under way.
Jackals and jungle cats near rural roads
According to Banglapedia, the golden or Asiatic jackal (Canis aureus) is the only jackal species found in Bangladesh and is widely distributed across the country. It is nocturnal, hiding in scrub by day and coming out at dusk to visit farmyards and villages for food. It eats rodents, insects, lizards and carrion, and is also fond of sugarcane and maize. The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern.
The jungle cat (Felis chaus) lives mainly in wetlands and riverbanks with dense vegetation but is common on farmland such as bean and sugarcane fields. It is also listed as Least Concern, and hunting it is prohibited in Bangladesh.
Motorcycle crashes on Bangladesh's roads
The Road Safety Foundation said on 10 January 2026 that 7,359 people were killed and 16,476 injured in 7,584 road accidents in Bangladesh in 2025. Motorcycles were involved in 3,029 of those accidents, which killed 2,672 people: 39.93 percent of all accidents and 36.29 percent of all deaths. The foundation's chairman, Professor A I Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, said motorcycles made up 71 percent of the country's motor vehicles.
Photo: Apu Jaman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sources: Jagonews24, Prothom Alo, Road Safety Foundation (reported by Prothom Alo), Banglapedia, Wikipedia
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