Four other people were killed in the crash including the CEO of local TV station ATN Ashfaque Munier Mishuk; Masud’s wife, producer Catherin Masud is in a serious condition in hospital.

Bangladeshi director Tareque Masud and head of local television channel ATN Ashfaque Munier Mishuk were killed in a car crash in the Ghior district of the country near the capital Dhaka on Saturday.

Three other people were killed in the head on collision with a bus, which has also left Masud’s American-born wife and producer Catherine Masud is in a serious condition in hospital. It is believed that they were scouting locations for Masud’s next film project.

Masud was best known for his 1995 documentary Song Of Freedom (Muktir Gaan) about a group of musicians during the war and the 2002 feature The Clay Bird (Matir Moina) about his experiences of being a madrassa student during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The latter won a Fipresci prize in Directors Fortnight at Cannes 2002. It was also the first Bangladeshi film to compete for a foreign-language Oscar.

Mishuk was a cinematographer and journalist who had worked for BBC World, Discovery Channel and National Geographic and currently headed up television channel ATN.