Bus flips on its side while ‘racing’ with another in Dhaka

A person was killed and 10 others were injured as a bus flipped on its side while trying to outrun another at Karwan Bazar in the capital yesterday.

Police and witnesses said the dead, around 25 years old, was the helper of the bus that overturned. His details could not be known immediately.

Eye-witness Ali Asgar said the accident took place around 6:00pm when two Gabtoli-Jatrabari buses were “having a race” towards Farmgate on an “empty” Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue.

At one point, one of the buses swayed into the first lane from the middle one and hit the other bus before crashing into the central reservation and landing on its side, he added. 

The helper was killed on the spot. Both the drivers fled.

Several pedestrians rushed to the spot and rescued the injured, all passengers, from the buses. Several blood spots were visible on the street.

Of the victims, Parul, 30, her three-year-old son Ashfaq, Ibrahim Noman, 26 and Awal Bepari, 24, were being treated at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The other bus was seized from the scene.

Talking to reporters at the hospital, injured Awal said his bus driver had been trying to outrun the other bus several times even though he was repeatedly asked not to do so.

Traffic movement on the busy street remained suspended for around 20 minutes following the accident.