Cause of accident, whereabouts of driver still unknown after 24 hrs

Although 24 hours have passed after the accident that killed six people as a bus hit three vehicles standing at Dhaleshwari Toll Plaza on Dhaka-Mawa Expressway Friday, no case has been registered yet.

Even what caused the accident also remains unknown. And, the police haven’t been able to trace the driver or the helper of the bus either.

The police said at Hashara Highway Police Station around 10:45 am in the morning today, Saturday.

Officer-in-charge (OC) of Hashara Highway Police Station, Abdul Kader Zilani told Prothom Alo, “The bus that is responsible for the accident is kept at the police station. Investigation is underway to find out what caused the accident. Efforts are on to identify the people responsible including the driver of the bus. Once they have been identified, they will be arrested.”

He also said that so far no case has been registered in connection to this incident. However, a case will be registered on behalf of the family members of the deceased. The legal processes are underway.

A bus of ‘Bepari Paribahan’ hit and wrecked a microbus, a car and a motorcycle standing at Dhaleshwari Toll Plaza on Dhaka-Mawa Expressway around 11:00 am on Friday morning killing four members of a family onboard the car and two members of another family riding the motorcycle. The accident left four more people critically injured.

The deceased are identified as wrecked car’s owner Nur Alam’s wife Amena Akhter, 40, his elder daughter Israt Jahan, 24, his younger daughter Riha Moni, 11, Israt Jahan’s son Aiyaz Hossain, 2, wrecked motorcycle’s rider Sumon Mia’s wife Reshma Akhter, 26, and his son Md Abdullah, 7.

The four left injured during the accident are car owner Nur Alam, 42, his sister Fahmida Akhter, 17, driver of the car Habibur Rahman, 38, and the rider of the motorbike Sumon Mia, 42.

The video footage of the accident has been caught on the CCTV camera of the Toll Plaza. It shows that a motorcycle was standing on the Mawa-bound lane of the Dhaleshwari Toll Plaza to pay off his toll. A microbus pulled up behind the motorcycle. Within a few seconds, a car queued up behind them.  

Soon after, a bus of the ‘Bepari Paribahan’ company was driving towards the toll plaza at a reckless speed. When the bus arrived in front of the toll plaza the speed of the bus accelerated even higher. The bus at that time wrecked the car, microbus and the motorcycle to drag them out of the toll plaza with it.

When the video spread on the social media, netizens expressed mixed reactions to the incident. Many said that the incident is mysterious adding that it could even be a deliberate incident.

They said that if the incident is not deliberate and the bus did lose control then it could have hit the toll plaza on any other mark to save the passengers.

And, the bus would have been running at a normal speed. They called upon the people concerned including the law enforcement forces to investigate the incident thoroughly.   

Following the accident, the injured were sent to Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital in Old Dhaka. According to sources of the hospital authorities, ten people had been taken to the hospital from this accident.

Five of them had already died before arriving at the hospital. Three out of the other five people were provided treatment at the hospital. And, the last two were discharged with first aid.

Out of the three undergoing treatment, severely injured Reshma had been referred to National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR). Later, they learnt that Reshma died there in the afternoon.