Buses set ablaze after student's death

An angry mob has set fire to at least eight buses and vandalised several others in Dhaka's Rampura after a student was killed by a bus that was allegedly racing another amid the ongoing movement for safe roads.

The victim, Md Mainuddin Islam Durjoy, was run over by a bus operated by Green Anabil Paribahan on DIT Road around 10:00pm on Monday. He was a candidate for Secondary School Certificate from Ekramunnesa School, reports bdnews24.com.

Jiban Chowdhury, a resident of Pabna Colony in Malibagh, said the student's body lay mangled after being trampled by the bus near a Lazz Pharma outlet. Witness Nesar Hossain said another person was injured in the accident.

Agitated locals subsequently vandalised and torched the bus along with a few others.

Informed of the incident, law enforcers went to the scene around 10:00pm, Rampura Police SI Tapash Kumar said.

The Fire Service and Civil Defence received reports of at least eight buses being set ablaze and dispatched several units to put out the fire, according to Ershad Ali, duty officer at the control room.

Mainul’s family took the body to their home on Titas Road in East Rampura. Police later retrieved it around 1:15am on Tuesday.

He was crossing the street with two of his friends during the accident, his relative Md Badsha Islam said. Citing witnesses, Badsha said the bus ran over the student while racing with another bus of Raida Paribahan.

He demanded action against both companies.

Students of Imperial College had earlier detained 40 buses of Raida Paribahan in Rampura after a female student was allegedly pushed off a bus by its staff.

They later let the buses go after a discussion with the bus owners in the presence of the police.

Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman, head of news photography at bdnews24.com, said from the scene around 11:45pm that he saw eight buses torched and four others vandalised.

Abdul Ahad, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said the driver of the Green Anabil bus was arrested.

Witnesses said people chased and detained the bus at Malibagh level-crossing. Angry locals then handed the driver over to the police after beating him up.

A Shyamoli Paribahan driver, Abdur Rauf said he was driving a bus with 16 passengers on board to Bandarban when it got stuck in a traffic jam at Rampura around 11:15pm. Some youths came and asked him to flee with the vehicle, but he could not turn it around due to congestion.

Then some other stick-wielding youths came and vandalised the bus after letting the passengers go. The youths then torched the bus.