Bus passengers recall argument with driver before Cumilla accident that killed 4

Survivors of the Cumilla road accident that has killed four have said they argued with the bus driver minutes before the crash.

The bus was initially moving very slowly, making frequent stops and taking passengers, the survivors recalled.

After the passengers protested and locked in an argument with the driver, he suddenly sped up. Soon the driver lost control and hit an autorickshaw in front, sending it flying into a roadside ditch. The bus then hit a motorcycle, the passengers said.

Suman, a survivor of the accident identified with a single name, told reporters: “Before the accident, the driver and supervisor had an argument with the passengers. The supervisor was stopping at random places to pick up people from the road.”

“Amid the argument, the driver suddenly sped up, eventually losing control and leading to the accident,” he said.

“I lost my son in the accident. The bus driver is to be blamed for all these,” he added.

Police said they recovered the burnt bodies of four people after the road accident involving a bus, an autorickshaw, and a motorcycle in Cumilla’s Daudkandi Upazila.

The accident occurred on Friday afternoon on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in the Baniapara area, according to Iqbal Bahar Mojumder of the Daudkandi Highway Police Station.

Law enforcers say a fire sparked after the accident, and the cause may have been the fuel tank on the motorcycle. The fire spread and engulfed the bus.  

The Fire Service and Civil Defence came and put out the blaze.

Those killed in the accident have been identified as Shamim Ahmed, 40, his son Nadiv Ahmed, 6, and Suman’s 18-month-old son Hossain, identified with a single name. The identity of the fourth victim, who was a passenger on the bus, could not be immediately confirmed.

Shamim and Nadiv were heading to the Baniapara Darbar Sharif on the motorcycle to attend the Jummah prayer, according to their’ family.

The accident also left 22 people injured.

Daudkandi Upazila Health Complex chief Habibur Rahman said 10 of the accident victims were transferred to hospitals in Dhaka for advanced treatment.

Four of the patients sent to Dhaka have sustained burn injuries.

Ershad Hossain, an inspector at the Daudkandi Upazila Fire Service and Civil Defence Station, said they believed the friction of the motorcycle’s fuel tank on the road sparked the fire.

“Perhaps the passengers were unable to get out of the bus because of the smoke,” he said.

The driver has fled after the accident.