Two more buses were set on fire in separate incidents in Savar and Dhamrai early Sunday, taking the total number of buses torched in the two upazilas to four in four nights. No casualties were reported.
Jahangir Alam, senior station officer of Savar Fire Service, and Al-Amin Khan, station officer of Dhamrai Fire Station, confirmed the incidents on Sunday morning.
The fires broke out near the Savar Thana Bus Stand and in the Sharifbag area of Dhamrai, both along the Dhaka-Aricha Highway.
According to Savar Fire Service, it received a report of a fire involving a Savar Paribahan bus parked near the Savar Thana Bus Stand at 2:55am.
Two fire service units rushed to the scene and brought the blaze under control by 3:10am.
Jahangir Alam said preliminary findings suggested that the bus had been set on fire. He estimated the damage at around Tk2 lakh.
Meanwhile, a D-Link Paribahan bus caught fire in front of Afaz Uddin College in Dhamrai’s Sharifbag area around 3:40am, according to the Dhamrai Fire Service.
Two units responded to the incident and extinguished the fire by 4:20am.
Al-Amin Khan said the bus was mainly used to transport employees of Snotex Garments to and from Nabinagar. It was parked when the fire broke out.
He said preliminary findings suggested that the bus had been deliberately set on fire.
The latest incident marks the third consecutive night of bus fires in Dhamrai. On Thursday night, November 5, a bus belonging to Pavel Paribahan, which was undergoing repairs, caught fire on Dhamrai Thana Road.
The following night, a Polli Seba Paribahan bus was set on fire in the Srirampur area along the Dhaka-Aricha Highway.
Dhamrai police station Officer-in-Charge Md Nazmul Huda Khan said three buses had been set on fire in the upazila over three consecutive nights.
He said police had advised bus owners after the previous incident to keep their vehicles in secure locations, under guard or close surveillance.
“Despite this, another bus left outside was set on fire. We are investigating whether these incidents are politically motivated, stem from personal disputes or are related to other factors,” he said.
The OC said the owner of one of the affected buses had filed a complaint with the police station. Police were treating the incidents seriously and working to establish the circumstances behind them.
