Passengers smash windows to escape fire on Dhaka-bound sleeper bus in Cox's Bazar

Passengers have escaped through smashed windows after a fire broke out on a Dhaka-bound air-conditioned sleeper bus in Cox's Bazar, with residents helping them to safety.

The fire broke out on an Icon Paribahan bus outside the N Alam Filling Station, west of Kolghor Bazar in Ramu, on the Cox's Bazar-Chattogram Highway around midnight on Friday, said Ramu Police chief Monirul Islam Bhuiyan.

No one was injured in the incident, he said. Passengers' belongings were also recovered from inside the bus and handed back to them.

However, Ramu Highway Police Sergeant Parvez, citing passengers, said the driver or helper did not inform them that the bus had caught fire.

"They have been absconding since the incident," he said.

Residents rescued the passengers after noticing a smell of burning and then seeing flames. They broke the bus windows to get the passengers out.

Sergeant Parvez said police reached the scene within 10 minutes after receiving the news as they were stationed nearby.

Sujan Chakraborty, a businessman at Kolghor Bazar, said passengers were struggling to breathe because of smoke and the smell of burning inside the bus.

"If residents had not broken the windows and brought them out, a major accident could have occurred," he said.

Fire Service personnel later arrived at the scene and brought the fire under control.

Ramu Fire Service and Civil Defence Station Officer Md Abdul Kader Chowdhury said they initially suspected that the fire had started because of a mechanical fault and the engine overheating.