Case filed in Daulatdia bus sinking incident, 3 arrested

The Naval Police have filed a case in connection with a passenger bus sinking in the river after being hit by a ferry at Daulatdia Ferry Ghat No. 7 in Goalanda, Rajbari. The bus driver, helper and supervisor have been arrested and sent to court in this incident. The three arrested were handed over to the court on Saturday (June 6) afternoon.
Earlier, on Friday (June 5) night, Daulatdia Naval Police Outpost SI Abuzar Giffari filed a case with Goalanda Ghat Police Station as the plaintiff. In addition to the bus driver, helper and supervisor, several unidentified persons from the Transport Management Authority have been accused in this case. The arrested are bus driver Jhantu Ali (48), helper Shakib Hossain (22) and supervisor Ajmal Hossain (38).
On Friday morning, a passenger bus of SB Super Deluxe Paribahan left Gangni in Meherpur for Gabtoli in Dhaka with about 38 passengers. The bus reached Daulatdia Ferry Terminal No. 7 at around 9:30 am. While boarding the ferry under the strict supervision of the administration, the bus lost control and quickly jumped onto the ferry, causing the ram on the other side to break and the bus to fall into the river. Although the bus helper managed to get out quickly during the accident, the driver was trapped inside the bus. He was later rescued.
Following this incident, members of various organizations including the district administration, police administration, RAB, army, BIWTC, BIWTA, fire service, coast guard, naval police participated in the rescue operation. After about two hours of efforts, the bus was rescued from the riverbed at around 12 noon with the help of BIWTA’s rescue ship ‘Hamza’ and a diving team.
After checking the belongings of the passengers, they were handed over to them and the crashed bus was removed with the help of a wrecker. Traffic movement normalized after the ferry was removed from the ghat at around 3:30 pm. Meanwhile, State Minister for the Ministry of Shipping Md. Rajib Ahsan and senior officials concerned visited the scene on Friday (June 5) afternoon.
The day after the incident, two separate investigation committees were formed by the Ministry of Shipping and the district administration. In this regard, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Goalanda Ghat Police Station Shafiqul Islam said that three accused have been arrested and sent to court in the case filed in the bus sinking incident.