At least five people got injured while trying to get off from a moving bus that caught on fire at the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Munshiganj.
The incident took place at the district’s Gazaria upazila on Thursday noon.
Those injured were taken to local hospitals, clinics for treatment.
The Dhaka-bound bus from Noakhali suddenly caught on fire near the Rangdhanu Filling Station in the Baluakandi area of the upazila.
After being informed, a unit of the Gazaria Fire Service and Civil Defence rushed to the spot and doused the fire in 20 minutes.
Firefighters suspect that the fire started from sparks that fell from the bus’s battery unit on the pipe connecting its gas cylinder.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Saidur Rahman Khan, team leader of Gazaria Fire Service and Civil Defence, said: "As soon as I got the news, we rushed to the spot and was able to put out the fire in time.
“No one was injured in the fire but we have learned that five passengers got hurt while trying to get off the bus using the windows and the gate. The injured have been treated at local clinics and hospitals.”
When asked about the cause of the fire, he, while quoting the passengers of the bus, said that the fire may have originated from sparks that fell from the battery unit of the bus.
“Next to the battery was the pipeline of the gas cylinder. The fire broke out when sparks from battery fell on the pipe,” the fire service officials said, adding, “The whole bus was gutted in the fire.”
Contacted, Bhaberchar Highway police outpost Sub-Inspector (SI) Sayarul said: “The driver of the bus is on the run following the incident.”
In a separate incident in Comilla, at least two passengers were killed and 17 others were injured in a bus after it caught fire.
The incident took place at around 6pm on Thursday, on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in the Gouripur area of the district’s Daudkandi upazila.
Meanwhile in Chittagong, no less than 11 buses, parked inside a garage, were gutted in a mysterious fire on Thursday noon.
According to the control room of Agrabad Fire Service and Civil Defence, the fire broke out around 1:30pm at the garage of Baghdad Express in the city’s Colonel Hat area.
Authorities are investigating the incident to identify the actual cause of the fire.
