Five Killed as Reckless Bus Ploughs into Highway Rescue Operation

A horrific road traffic accident on the Dhaka-Khulna highway has claimed at least five lives and left several others critically injured after a speeding passenger bus ploughed into a group of people assisting a stranded vehicle. The tragedy unfolded on Saturday evening, 11 July, at the Swadi bus stand in the Bhanga sub-district of Faridpur. The death toll is widely feared to rise given the critical condition of those rushed to medical facilities.

The incident began earlier in the evening when a pickup van laden with eggs lost control and met with an accident at the Swadi bus stand. Heavy rainfall had left the highway treacherous and slick. Spotting the stricken vehicle, a group of local residents and bystanders gathered at the edge of the motorway to assist with the salvage operation and clear the road.

Disaster struck during the rescue effort. A reckless, high-speed passenger bus operated by ‘Narail Express’, travelling from Dhaka towards Gopalganj, barrelled into the stationary pickup van and the crowd gathered around it. The impact killed five people on the spot and left at least five others with severe injuries. In the immediate aftermath, the identities of the deceased and wounded could not be verified by the authorities.

The collision triggered immediate outrage among the local populace. An incensed mob quickly gathered at the scene, directing their fury towards passing traffic. Demonstrators vandalised between 30 and 40 vehicles along the major transport artery and set fire to multiple cars and buses. The vigilante action caused a complete gridlock, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides of the Dhaka-Khulna highway.

Emergency responders faced significant challenges in managing the fallout. Upon receiving the distress call, teams from the Bhanga Highway Police and the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence rushed to the area to initiate a rescue operation and douse the vehicle fires. Abu Jafar, the station manager for the Bhanga Fire Service, confirmed that his personnel found five bodies at the scene before focusing their efforts on bringing the raging vehicular fires under control. He added that several of the casualties taken to the hospital remained in an extremely critical condition.

Law enforcement struggled for hours to restore order. The Officer-in-Charge of Bhanga Police Station, Mizanur Rahman, corroborated the sequence of events, pointing to the combination of monsoon rain and reckless driving as the catalyst for the initial crash and subsequent carnage. By 9:00 pm on Saturday night, local administrative officials and security forces were still facing intense resistance from the agitated crowd, with multiple vehicles continuing to burn on the tarmac as police worked to safely disperse the protesters and clear the vital transport route.