A speeding bus lost control on the slope at the transition pier, or connecting point, on the Mawa end of the Padma Bridge and overturned, injuring eight passengers.
The accident occurred around 1:15 p.m. Monday, August 31, on the slope at the bridge’s connecting point on the Mawa end in Munshiganj’s Lohajang upazila. Immediately after the accident, members of two Sreenagar Fire Service units rescued the injured and sent them to the hospital.
Munshiganj Fire Service and Civil Defence deputy assistant director Muhammad Shafiqul Islam confirmed the incident. He said a report reached Sreenagar fire station at 1:37 p.m. that a bus had lost control on the Padma Bridge slope at the Mawa end in Lohajang upazila, struck the road railing and overturned. The Dhaka-bound bus, New Green Line Express, was traveling from Magura to Dhaka.
He said that upon receiving the report, two rescue teams from Sreenagar fire station quickly reached the scene and rescued the injured passengers from the bus. The injured were then sent to Sreenagar Upazila Health Complex by fire service ambulance.
The injured were identified as Saifullah, 80, of the Magura Sadar area; Md Lutfor, 63; Rebeka Khatun, 40, of Chuadanga’s Alamdanga upazila; Nur Islam, 46, of Damurhuda upazila; Rashida, 40; Fatema, 7, of Magura’s Mohammadpur; Saif, 23, of Magura’s Sreepur; and Md Arafat, 13, of Faridpur’s Madhukhali area.
Padma Bridge North police station officer-in-charge Syed Aktar Hossain said the Dhaka-bound Green Express bus, which had left from Magura, lost control on the Padma Bridge slope and overturned on the bridge. He said eight or nine passengers aboard were injured. The injured were quickly sent to the hospital by fire service ambulance.
Padma Bridge site office executive engineer Abu Sayad Nilay said traffic on the bridge remained normal.