Jhalakathi bus plunge kills 9
Jhalakathi bus plunge kills 9
At least nine people were killed and 20 injured as an out-of-control bus plunged into a roadside ditch in Rajapur upazila of Jhalakathi this afternoon.
“The death toll has risen to nine,” Abdul Barek, a sub-inspector of Rajapur Police Station, told our Jhalakathi correspondent.
The rescuers fear that the death toll may go up.
The driver lost his control over the steering while competing with another bus on the Barisal-Jessore highway around 3:45pm, police and locals said.
The speeding vehicle fell into the water-filled ditch after its driver failed to negotiate with a turn on a diversion road beside an under construction bridge at Biswasbari, said an eyewitness.
The injured were sent to Rajapur Upazila Health Complex and Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital.
Eight bodies were recovered from the plunged bus while one of the injured died on his way to Barisal.
The bodies were sent to the upazila health complex.
The number of passengers and the fate of the driver could not be known but the locals said the bus was packed with passengers. They added that they even saw people travelling on the roof of the bus too during the accident.
The members of Fire Service and Civil Defense, police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) are carrying out the rescue operation, AFM Anwar, an assistant superintendent of police in Jhalakathi, told The Daily Star.
The rescuers are trying their best to salvage the bus, which was going to Barisal from Khulna, he said adding the top police and administration officials of the district have rushed to the spot to monitor the rescue operation.