By: Kimberly Rodrigues
A bus traveling at high speed swerved off a major expressway in central Bangladesh and crashed into a ditch, resulting in the deaths of at least 19 individuals and leaving dozens injured.
Anowar Hossain, a police official in Shibchar where the accident happened, has stated that the number of fatalities may increase as some of the injured passengers are in critical condition. Shibchar is located 80 km away from the capital city of Dhaka.
Hossain said that the bus, which was carrying over 40 passengers, crashed through the railing of the recently constructed Padma River bridge expressway and fell approximately 9 meters (30 feet) into a ditch beside the road.
The driver, who died in the accident, seemed to have lost control of the bus after one of its tires burst. And according to Hossain the cause of the crash is currently being investigated.
Bangladesh frequently experiences road accidents, which result in the deaths of thousands of people each year. These accidents are often attributed to reckless driving, outdated vehicles, and inadequate safety regulations.
In 2018, the deaths of two teenagers sparked a string of large-scale student protests, which compelled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government to increase the maximum prison sentence for causing death due to reckless driving from three years to five years.
With inputs from Reuters
