15 Killed As Passenger Bus Slides Off Ferry Deck In Bangladesh

DHAKA, March 26 (Bernama-dpa) – At least 15 people were killed after a passenger bus plunged into a river in central Bangladesh while boarding a ferry, German Press Agency (dpa) reported, citing officials on Wednesday.

The bus, carrying about 40 passengers, fell into the Padma River in the evening at the Daulatdia Ferry Terminal in Rajbari district. The terminal is located more than 60 kilometres west of the capital Dhaka.

The incident occurred as the vehicle was driving onto a ferry designed to transport buses and other vehicles across the river.

Most of the victims were found trapped inside the sunken bus after it was lifted from the water late in the evening, said Dewan Sohel Rana, an official from the Fire Service and Civil Defence emergency department,.

Seven women and two children were among the deceased, he added.

Divers from the Fire Service and Civil Defence department and other agencies launched a rescue operation shortly after the accident.

The rescuers took more than five hours to lift the bus, which had sunk to a depth of about 20 metres. 

Monir Hossain, a transport supervisor at the ferry terminal, said only a few passengers managed to swim ashore, while most of those inside the bus were either dead or missing.

“The bus fell into the river right before our eyes, but we could do nothing,” he told reporters at the scene. He said the accident may have occurred because the ferry hit the terminal pontoon with force, causing the bus driver to lose control.

A video of the bus, which was en route to Dhaka from the western district of Kustia, falling into the river went viral on social media.

The government has assigned a panel of experts to investigate the cause of the accident, said Sultana Akhter, the chief of the district administration.

Some six or seven of the 40 passengers had gotten off the bus while it was boarding the ferry, she said according to witnesses’ accounts. Four passengers were rescued, Akhter added, while the remaining passengers are missing.

-- BERNAMA-dpa