Reckless driving claims 8 lives
Reckless driving claimed eight lives and left 17 people injured in Sylhet's Dakshin Surma upazila yesterday morning.
A bus of London Express, which had been in service without a fitness certificate for around three months, left Dhaka for Sylhet around 12:45am.
The bus driver was driving recklessly and overtaking other vehicles. The passengers, who became panicked, warned the driver repeatedly, but he paid no heed.
It resulted in the tragic end of the journey around 7:00am yesterday when the driver lost control and the vehicle collided head-on with a bus of Ena Paribahan at Rashidpur on Dhaka-Sylhet highway, said witnesses and fire service officials.
Eight people of the two vehicles died in the accident. Of them, four each died on the spot and at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
"Our bus driver was hurrying and overtaking other vehicles recklessly. There was fog on the highway. Most of the passengers were worried and we warned him repeatedly. But the driver did not listen to us," said Mohammad Rahel, a passenger of the London Express bus.
He was talking to The Daily Star at the hospital.
"Visiting the accident spot and talking to survivors, it has become clear to us that the bus of London Express lost its control, skidded on to the wrong side of the road and collided with another bus that was coming from the opposite direction," said Kobad Ali Sarkar, deputy director of Fire Service and Civil Defence in Sylhet.
The fitness certificate of the London Express bus expired on November 23 last year, said sources at Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.
Asked how a bus could run without a valid fitness certificate, Sheikh Masud Karim, assistant superintendent (Sylhet circle) of highway police, said it was difficult for police solely to control unfit vehicles. Rather, it needs coordinated efforts from all government bodies concerned to stop this.
The deceased are Ena Paribahan's bus driver Manzur Ali, 38, its conductor Salman, 30, helper Jahangir Hossain, 30, London Express bus driver Shah Kamal, 45, and bus passengers physician Imran Khan Romel, 38, Nadim Ahmed Sagar, 19, of Dhaka, Nurul Islam, 50, of Brahmanbaria, and Rahima Khatun, 30, of Sunamganj, said BM Ashraf Ullah Taher, additional deputy commissioner (media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police.
The injured were undergoing treatment at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. Of them, condition of four was critical.
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