State Minister for Public Administration and Food and Joypurhat-2 MP Abdul Bari was injured on Friday morning when his car crashed into a roadside paddy field while attempting to avoid a pedestrian in Bogura’s Shibganj.

Nazma Begum, wife of Minister Abdul Bari, was unharmed while a local woman pedestrian named Firoza was critically injured in the accident. The minister’s driver was also injured.

The accident occurred around 9am on the Mokamtala-Joypurhat road near the east side of the Boro Bridge in Gopinathpur area of Kichak Union in the upazila.

Abdul Bari and his wife were travelling from Dhaka to Joypurhat as part of a two-day official visit when the accident occurred.

According to local residents, the driver lost control while attempting to avoid hitting a woman who was crossing the road. The vehicle veered off the road and landed in an adjacent paddy field.

Local people rescued the state minister and his wife from the vehicle. Abdul Bari sustained injuries to his knee and both legs and received first aid before leaving for his home in Kalai municipal town, where he is currently staying.

Firoza was initially taken to Shibganj Upazila Health Complex. As her condition deteriorated, she was later transferred to Bogura Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital for treatment.

The state minister’s gunman, Muktarul, said that Abdul Bari, his wife, the driver and he himself were in the vehicle at the time of the accident.

“The state minister sustained injuries to his legs in the accident,” he said.