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Twelve people were killed when a passenger bus and a sand-laden truck collided head-on on the Bonpara-Pabna highway in Natore early on Tuesday, and police say the bus had been running without a valid fitness certificate since May.

The crash happened at about 4:15am at Sarkarpur in Baraigram upazila, near the Bonpara police investigation centre. Nine people died at the scene and three more died later while being treated, taking the toll to 12, according to accounts from The Daily Star and Bangla Tribune. At least 25 people were injured, Bangla Tribune reported, while The Daily Star put the number receiving treatment in Natore and Rajshahi hospitals at 30 or more.

The bus belonged to RP Special Paribahan and was carrying about 40 passengers from Barguna to Chapainawabganj, a journey of more than 500 kilometres that it began around 6:00pm and was due to finish around 6:00am. The truck was taking sand from Panchagarh to Jhenaidah. The two vehicles met at Sarkarpur before dawn.

The dead included the truck's driver and the bus's supervisor. Police said the supervisor was at the wheel when the crash happened; passengers alleged that the driver had been asleep, a claim the owner rejected. A child was also among those killed. The injured were taken to hospitals in Natore, Baraigram and Rajshahi, and the bodies were handed to families after identification.

Police filed a case at Baraigram police station on Tuesday night under the Road Transport Act, naming the drivers of both vehicles as accused but without recording their names. The case was filed by Sub-Inspector Akbar Hossain of Bonpara Highway Police after no relative of a dead or injured passenger came forward to lodge a complaint, and it will be investigated by highway police. Officers said the drivers would be identified and brought under the law.

The condition of the bus is now central to the investigation. Md Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bonpara Highway Police Station, said the vehicle's fitness certificate expired in May and that the matter had been passed to the district administration's inquiry committee. "We are investigating how it was allowed to run on this long route for so long without proper certification," he said.

The owner, Md Mintu Ali, said he bought the Ashok Leyland bus about a year ago and first rented it out for tours and picnics. After obtaining a route permit, he began operating it on the Barguna-Chapainawabganj route about four months ago. He said he had applied to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to update the vehicle's documents but kept it on the road because of delays in the process. The Daily Star said it could not reach BRTA officials to verify that account.

Mintu denied that the driver had fallen asleep, saying two drivers were aboard and that the crash was the result of a momentary lapse in concentration. The seven-member inquiry committee, headed by Natore Additional District Magistrate Md Abul Hayat, visited the site on Wednesday. Hayat confirmed that the bus had been operating without fitness clearance for five months and said the panel would check all papers, official documents and safety requirements before drawing conclusions.

"Our preliminary assessment suggests the driver may have been drowsy, leading to a loss of control," Hayat said. "We will reveal all findings regarding the cause of the accident after the final investigation concludes." He said the committee would also examine the dispute over who was actually driving at the time of the collision.

The crash has also brought promises of help for the families. Whip Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu, the MP for Natore Sadar, visited the scene with fellow MP Abdul Aziz, Deputy Commissioner Sumoni Akter and Superintendent of Police Shariful Haque. Dulu said the government would give Tk 1 lakh to each bereaved family on behalf of the prime minister, and that work would be taken up to widen the Bonpara-Pabna highway to reduce the risk of such collisions.

Several questions remain unanswered. Police have not said whether anyone has been arrested, and the inquiry committee has not set a date for its report. It is still unclear who was driving the bus, whether the BRTA took any action over the expired certificate, and whether the case will proceed against named individuals. Transport specialists have long warned that a single driver on a 500-kilometre overnight route is a safety risk, and that informal handovers between drivers on long-haul services make crashes more likely.

The Bonpara-Pabna stretch is part of the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway, one of the country's busiest long-distance corridors. The case has renewed attention on how vehicles with out-of-date papers can keep running, a question the inquiry committee says it will address in its findings.

A French buyer has asked a Bangladeshi knitwear factory to hold an order that had already been agreed, as protests across Europe add a new worry to an export trade already struggling with weaker demand and thinner prices.

Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, chief executive of Narayanganj-based Fatullah Fashion Limited and executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told The Business Standard that the buyer acted on Monday. The buyer, he said, was concerned that drawn-out unrest could weaken Europe's economy, cut households' purchasing power and soften demand for clothing.

The order's size and value have not been disclosed, and it is not yet clear whether the suspension is temporary. Ehsan said he could not say how much of the decision was caused by the protests. Still, he said, the move reflects the mood among buyers.

The unrest has spread across France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Spain over living costs, fuel prices, housing, education and public services, according to international media reports. France has banned protests in Paris and three other cities after riots last weekend, and European governments are watching how quickly consumer confidence recovers.

The figures behind the concern are not new. Bangladesh's apparel exports to the European Union fell by about 12 percent year on year in January to August, according to Eurostat data cited by both The Business Standard and Bangla Tribune. The two reports gave slightly different percentages and different figures for the fall in the EU's total apparel imports, which they put at 1.29 percent and 3.83 percent.

Bangla Tribune reported that the value of Bangladesh's apparel shipments to the EU dropped to 11.93 billion euros from 13.50 billion euros a year earlier. It said the volume fell 4.58 percent and the average price per kilogram dropped 7.43 percent, to 13.76 euros, meaning exporters earned less both because they shipped less and because each garment fetched a lower price.

The European Union takes about half of Bangladesh's total exports, according to the Export Promotion Bureau. Yet there are signs of recovery: the bureau's figures show garment exports to the EU rose 3.33 percent to 4.90 billion dollars in July to September of the current financial year, and The Business Standard reported that Bangladesh began regaining market share in August and September.

Industry leaders are divided on how much the protests matter. MA Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, said Bangladesh already faces intense competition in Europe and that fresh, prolonged instability there would hurt exports. Asif Ashraf of Urmi Group voiced a similar concern. Shovon Islam of Sparrow Group argued that falling orders were driven more by Europe's broader slowdown than by the demonstrations, noting that order flows were also declining in the United States but that Europe was worse.

Costs at home are rising at the same time. The government has withdrawn bonded warehouse facilities for imports of 10 to 30 count yarn used in knitwear, requiring importers to furnish a bank guarantee equal to the value of the yarn. Fakir Kamruzzaman Nahid, managing director of Fakir Fashions, said imported 30-count combed yarn costs 3.15 dollars a kilogram against 3.75 dollars for the local equivalent, and that using domestic yarn would add about 15 cents to the cost of each garment while most European buyers refuse even a one-cent increase.

A new wage increase for garment workers is also pending, with workers demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka. Higher wages would lift workers' incomes, but factory owners say the cost can only be absorbed if productivity rises and buyers accept higher prices.

The European Commission forecast in May that EU growth would slow to 1.1 percent in 2026 from 1.5 percent in 2025, with inflation around 3.1 percent. That outlook, rather than the protests alone, may shape how many orders Bangladesh receives in the coming months.

What remains unknown is how many buyers have paused or cancelled orders, what the suspended French order was worth, and whether the unrest will last long enough to change retail buying plans for next season. Exporters say the next month is critical: if the yarn restrictions are not eased, they fear orders that might have come to Bangladesh could move to Vietnam, Cambodia, India or Pakistan, all of which are competing harder for the same European buyers.