The Daily Morning Voice Online Desk: At least 30 vehicles were vandalised and a truck set on fire as garment workers and locals blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway in protest of a garment factory employ being killed in a road accident in Chandra area of Gazipur’s Kaliakoir upazila this morning. The highway was blocked till 11:20am, our local correspondent reports.

The deceased was Azadul Haque, 35, of Amgaon village in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj upazila. He was a security guard at Mahmud Jeans. The accident took place at 7:50am, our Gazipur correspondent reports quoting factory manager Golam Mahmud. Abu Taher Faruqui, security in-charge of Mahmud Jeans, said Azadul was charged with assisting the workers to cross the highway.

In the morning, when Azadul was helping other workers cross the road, he signalled the vehicles to stop but a truck sped up, ignoring the signal and ran him over. When the driver fled the scene soon after the incident, the workers set the truck on fire, Faruqui said. About 10,000 workers of Mahmud Jeans and adjacent Noor Group took position on the Dhaka-Tangail highway along with the body and vandalised at least 30 vehicles.

Kaliakoir Fire Service’s Warehouse Inspector Saiful Islam said the firefighters tried to go to the spot to douse the fire but the workers attacked them with brick chunks and stones.