30 injured as picnic bus from Netrokona collides with covered van in Chattogram

The bus carrying students on a study tour to Saint Martin’s Island collided head-on with a covered van in Lohagara Upazila

At least 30 people have been injured after a bus carrying the students on a study tour from Netrokona collided with a covered van in Chattogram. 

The incident occurred on the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar Highway in the port city’s Chunti area in Lohagara Upazila on Friday.

The injured are students and teachers from Netrokona Government College’s Political Science Department.

“A Cox’s Bazar bound bus carrying the students on a study tour from Netrokona collided head-on with a covered van coming from the opposite direction,” said Mohammad Hossain, chief of Dohazari Highway Police Station.

The injured have been rescued and sent to different local hospitals and Chattogram Medical College Hospital.

Shahriar Alam Raju, a final-year student of the department, said they were heading to Saint Martin's Island for a picnic boarding a Shoukhin Paribahan bus hired for the trip.

The driver of the bus was rushing to overtake another bus when the crash took place, he added.

Raju also suffered injuries in the accident, along with two teachers who were accompanying the students.

A total of 57 people were on the bus, including five teachers and three female students, according to Enayet Ullah, a second-year student at the department.

He said almost everyone who was on the front part of the bus suffered injuries in the crash. “Most of the students were sleeping at the time,” he added.

“I was in the back. I woke up moments before the incident. The bus collided head-on with a covered van when its driver was speeding to overtake another vehicle.”

The locals rescued the injured and took them to different local hospitals. The victims who are in critical condition were sent to CMCH, Enayet added.

All the students, including injured ones, moved to the CMCH from Lohagara around 1 pm. They have started preparations to return home.