At least seven passengers have been killed when a minibus collided head on with a bus and plunged into the Turag River in Ashulia.
Twenty other passengers of the minibus too were injured in the accident that occurred around 8:30am on Tuesday near the Dhaur Toll Plaza at Beribandh, police and witnesses said.
Fire-fighters’ rescue team pulled out the minibus from the river after a six-hour long attempt.
Station Officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters Shafiullah Didar said seven dead bodies have been recovered. All the victims found so far are males.
Two of the deceased have been identified as – minibus driver’s assistant Abdul Rahman Babu, 50, and a passenger Nabiullah, 32.
The Nabinagar-bound minibus of ‘Grameen Seba Paribabhan’ rolled over several times and fell into the river after colliding with the Abdullahpur-bound ‘Naima Enterprise’, a witness Ilias Ali told bdnews24.com.
Several passengers were thrown off the bus by the impact of the collision, he said.
A woman and a child were sent to hospital, local shop owner Rawshan Ali said. “We had tried to pull the bus up with a trawler, but did not succeed. Later fire-fighters arrived and recovered several bodies.”
Ashulia police Sub-Inspector Ruhul Amin said the minibus was totally submerged. Police had immediately started the rescue attempt along with the locals. Later fire-fighters and Navy divers too joined the rescue operation.
Ilias Ali claimed the minibus was carrying at least 25 passengers, but Fire Service officials said the number was less.
Twenty inujured passengers of the two ill-fated buses were admitted to East-West Medical College Hospital at Ashulia, said administrative official Laxmi Chandra Das quoting locals.
After being pulled out of the river around 2pm, the ill-fated bus was taken to Turag Police Station.
Fire Service official Shafiullah Didar told reporters that divers had searched for the missing passengers in three phases after the bus was pulled up, but no one was found.