20 killed, 20 injured in Madaripur bus crash

Different aspects of the ongoing anarchy on roads across the country were revealed once again, following a fatal bus accident on Sunday.

At least 20 people, including all three bus workers, were killed and about 20 more injured as a bus fell into a roadside ditch on the Dhaka–Mawa–Bhanga expressway at Kutubpur under Shibpur upazila of Madaripur district on Sunday morning.

With an order since 2019 for suspending the movement of the bus following a previous fatal accident, its fitness certificate was also expired.

The bus was carrying extra passengers even on its engine.

During the accident, the bus was running at a speed higher than allowed, according to more accounts than one.

With all these breaches of rules, the bus was running and was reduced to wreckage before taking 19 lives.

The bus driver was identified as Md Zahid, 40, son of Ali Akbar, from Anantapur village in Kasba of Brahmanbaria district, while Zahid’s assistant was Yusuf, 45, son of late Gahar Ali, from Suzanagar in Pabna district, confirmed Shibchar highway police station officer-in-charge Abu Nayeem Md Mofazzal Huq.

Inspector Bacchu Mia, the in-charge of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital police outpost, said that the deceased included Ekabbar, 75, a retired madrassah teacher, from Rampal in Bagerhat, and Minhaz, 20, son of Mizan Biswas, from Gopalganj sadar. Minhaz was the supervisor of the bus.

The other deceased were Sweety, 22, daughter of Masud, from Pachuria, Afsana Mimi, 26, daughter of Abu Hena Mostafa, from Bolakir, Md Hedayet Bahar, 40, son of Taiyob Ali Mia, from Gopinathpur, Mostaq Ahmed, 38, son of Shamsul Sheikh, from Bonogram, and Md Shajib, 25, son of Naoshar Ali Sheikh, from Chutfa, all five villages in  Gopalganj sadar, Md Kabir Sheikh, 55, son of Kanchan Sheikh, from Tungipara in Gopalganj, Masud, 24, son of Amzad Ali Khan, from Moksedpur in Gopalganj, Md Ismail, 26, son of Syed Mir Jahan Ali, from Alfadanga in Faridpur, Md Farhad Sikder, 60, son of Md Boku Shikder, from Lohagora in Narail, Anadi Ranjan Mazumder, 52, son of Shanti Ranjan Mazumder, from Mollar Hat in Bagerhat, Mohadev Kumar Shadu Kha, 42, son of Parimol Shadu Kha, from Dumuria in Khulna, Sheikh Md Abdullah Al-Mamun, 42, son of Sheikh Md Ali, from Khulna sadar, Chinmoy Prasun Ghosh, 39, son of Chitta Ranjan Ghosh, from Khulna sadar, Md Ashfaquzzahan Linkon, 47, son of Md Shahjahan Molla, from Tutpara in Khulna, and Rashed Sardar, 42, son of late Amed Ali, from Debhata in Satkhira.

Madaripur deputy commissioner Rahima Khaton told New Age that the accident took place at 7:40am.

Shibchar highway police station officer-in-charge Abu Nayeem Md Mofazzal Huq said that the Emad Paribahan bus, according to witnesses, tumbled off the expressway and then hit a wall of the underpass, due to which the number of causalities was high in the front portion of the bus.

The bus was also heavily damaged, he said.

Faridpur Fire Service deputy assistant director Shiplu Ahmed said that they received the news of the accident at 7:45am and reached the spot at 7:58am.

They recovered 14 bodies on the spot, he said, adding that their primary investigation found that the bus was carrying extra passengers against its capacity.

The bus had, he said, total 40 seats but on its engine there was a cover and as per the information they had gathered there were passengers also on the engine cover.

‘We heard that there could be up to 45 passengers in the bus but we did not find any concrete proof,’ he said.

Deputy commissioner Rahima Khatun said that till 5:00pm they knew that 17 people were killed in Shibpur area.

They sent 17 injured people to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where two more died later, she said.

Anita Datta, wife of deceased Anadi Ranjan Mazumder, said that they both were at their workplaces and from his workplace her husband was going to attend a training programme in Dhaka at 9:00am.

Anadi was deputy director of Gopalganj office of the Directorate General of Family Planning and Anita is a teacher at the Primary Teacher’s Training Institute at Bhanga upazila in Faridpur.

We brought him to Mollarhat in Bagerhat district for cremation,’ Anita said at 6:30pm in tears, adding, ‘I am not in a condition to talk anymore.’

Enamul Haque Sardar, a cousin of Asfana Mimi, said that she had completed her masters from Bangladesh Agricultural University recently.

‘Afsana had her mother and a younger sister. She wanted to earn for taking care of her family as her father died around 12 years ago,’ he said.

Now her family’s dream was shuttered, he added.

According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, the Emad Paribahan bus had fitness clearance till January 18, 2023.

BRTA chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder said that as per the officials of the authority’s divisional office the same bus met with another fatal accident on the night of September 21, 2019.

On that night, the bus hit a parked truck from behind on the Dhaka–Khulna national highway in Shonashur area under Gopalganj sadar upazila killing at least four people and injuring more than 10 others.

The BRTA chairman said that after the 2019 accident they had suspended the movement of the bus, which meant that the bus could not ply until the suspension period was over.

‘The bus was running illegally and for the suspension the bus owner could not update its fitness document,’ he further said, adding that they are taking action.

Replying to a question, he said that they lacked human resources to check all vehicles across Bangladesh.

As to how the bus, under suspension, was operating, Madaripur Superintendent of Police Md Masud Alam said that there was no justification of why it operated and it could not be accepted.

He also said that he would look into that matter and talk with the highway police.

Masud Alam also said that they were primarily considering three reasons for the accident.

The bus hit and broke some trees and some milestones before falling 70–80 metres deep into the underpass from the expressway and then it hit a wall of the underpass, he said.

‘If the bus was not running at a higher speed than permitted, the consequences would not have been so severe,’ he said.

After the accident, it was found that a tyre of the bus was punctured, which could be another reason for the accident and finally the driver could have been sleepy as the crash took place early morning, he said.

The damages to the road were not major ones, he added.

Shibchar highway police station OC Abu Nayeem Md Mofazzal Huq said that primarily they heard that the bus was running at a high speed.

A case was under process at Shibchar police station, he said at 8:00pm, adding that 17 bodies — 15 male and two female — were handed over to the family members.

Madaripur DC Rahima Khatun said, ‘We have heard that the bus was at over-speed and one of its tyres was punctured but before an investigation we cannot be sure.’

They had formed a four-member committee, headed by the additional deputy commissioner, to investigate the incident and submit the report within two working days, she said.

The other committee members are one additional superintendent of police and one representative each from the BRTA and the Accident Research Institute at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

The district administration will give Tk 25,000 each of the families of the dead victims, she added.

The bus was made by the Ashok Leyland company of India and it received BRTA registration for plying in January 2018.

The bus was jointly owned by Social Islami Bank Ltd and Emad Paribahan Pvt Ltd.-newage

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