A bus accident took place near Amin bazaar Salehpur Bridge, Savar yesterday.7 persons including a woman could reach ashore. About 40 are still missing.
The Savar-bound bus of Baishakhi Paribahan lost control and fell into the Turag River after one of its tires blasted.
The accident occurred at around 11:00am.Yesterday (Sunday).
The rescue team comprised of divers from fire brigade, army, navy and locals, salvaged seven persons. The rescue operation was still on. They could not reach the riverbed due to the high tide of the river.
One died and was identified as Manowara Khatun Tara, a Jahangirnagar University student of room no-202 of Preety Lata Hall. She died at Enam Medical College and Hospital in Savar, and was one of the seven rescued alive.
Several speedboats equipped with powerful lights continued the rescue operation on the surface of the river looking for floating bodies.
A SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) machine, which is used to detect metal, was called from Chittagong to be reached by air by 10:00pm to trace the sunken bus.
Several hundred angry locals gathered the Dhaka-Aricha highway protesting the slow rescue effort. According to them only three divers were initially deployed and they failed to locate the bus even after a two-hour search.
Relatives of missing persons were gathering on the riverbank from different places.
