A crane pulls the minibus out of the Turag after it plunged into the river, leaving seven people dead.
At least seven people were killed as a minibus plunged into the Turag river after it rammed a bus on Dhour Bridge on the fringe of the capital near Ashulia yesterday.
Another 20 passengers from both the vehicles were injured in the accident.
A Nabinagar-bound 30-seater minibus of Sayem Paribahan collided head-on with a local bus around 9:05am, said SM Badrul Alam, officer-in-charge of Ashulia Police Station. The minibus that was coming from Abdullahpur with 10 to 12 extra passengers then fell down in the river.
The majority of the passengers of the minibus were heading to their workplaces, said Mashiur Rahman, 33, an injured passenger of the vehicle. He himself was going to his office in Nabinagar.
On information, divers from the Fire Service and Civil Defence rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation around 10:30am. Later, a navy team joined in.
Seven dead bodies were recovered by 11:50am, said Fazlur Rahman, a diver. “We continued the search for another hour but had to halt it when one of our team members fell sick.”
The navy team, however, continued the search but did not find any more bodies.
Six bodies were handed over to the victims’ relatives. They are Ali Hossain, an accounts officer of Beximco Group; Robiullah, a rickshaw puller; Fazlur Rahman, a physician of Modern Herbal in Ashulia; Sarwar Morshed, Forhad Hossain, a merchandiser, and Abdur Rahman Babu, helper of the minibus.
The unidentified body was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue, said OC Badrul.
Passengers of the local bus sustained injuries as it struck a road divider after hitting the minibus, said a passenger.
The injured were given primary treatment at East West Medical College and Hospital in Kamarpara, Uttara.
Visiting the hospital, The Daily Star correspondent found Ali Newaz Bhuiyan, father of a dead victim, Robiullah, collecting money for his son’s burial.
“My son and I were going to Aricha but now I do not even have the money to take his body to Raypura, Narshingdi,” said Bhuiyan, who could collect Tk 2000.
Around 1:50pm the rescue team managed to pull up the minibus from nearly 20 feet under water with the help of a crane, said police officials of Turag Police Station.
Sub-inspector Nazrul Islam said they had seized both the vehicles but the drivers had already fled.
