DHAKA: At least 29 passengers sustained burn injuries as miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus in Jatrabari’s Kather Pool area of the city Friday night.
Besides, 18 more passengers were injured while jumping off the running bus, said police sources.
The victims are undergoing treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). Of them, nine were in critical condition, doctors at the burn unit told banglanews.
DMCH burnt unit doctor Samanta Laal Sen, told the journalists that they received 29 victims. “Nine of them are in critical condition as their respiratory systems have been affected seriously,” he added.
The arson attack took place amid the 18th day of the nationwide road-rail-waterway blockade for indefinite period enforced by Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Several victims told banglanews that a passenger bus of Glory Paribahan, carrying passengers, was going to Rupganj of Narayanganj from Gulistan via Demra road.
As the bus arrived in Kather Pool area of Jatrabari around 9:15pm, miscreants exploded crude bombs on the road that led the bus driver to slow down.
Then, miscreants hurled petrol bombs inside the bus through window. Subsequently, fire soon engulfed the whole bus, burning most of the passengers there, they added.
Of them, 24 burn injured are identified as Joynal Abedin Molla, 30, Ishtiak Babar, 25, Salauddin Palash, 35, Tagbir Islam, 32, Salman, 20, Nazmul, 27, M Sharif 48, Usman Goni, 28, Yasin Arafat, 40, his wife Shahida, 30, Mossarrof Hossain, 40, his nephew Salahuddin, 30, Hridoy, 20, Rashed, 20, Momen, 25, Khokon, 30, Nur Alam, 30, Haris, 32, Faruk Hossain, 20, M Sumon, 25, Rubel, 22, Abu Hossain, 35, Shahjahan Sardar, 60, Mozaffar Molla, 60, M Jabed, 32.
Of the injured, 14 were admitted to Medicare Hospital, six to Globe Hospital and eight others to different hospitals. Identity of the admitted patients could not be known.
Talking to the locals, banglanews came to learn that there were puddles in the both sides of the road and it was also an open place where the arson attack happened. Arsonists maximized the opportunity and attacked the bus.
Victim Joynal Abedin Mollah, who runs a cloth shop in city’s New Market, told, said two teenagers, aged about 14 to 15 years, hurled the petrol bombs at the running bus and escaped the scene.
Another victim national basketball team member Takdir Islam Setu told banglanews that he boarded the bus from Gulistan to go village home and sat on the left side of the bus.
On arrival in the area, a petrol bomb was thrown to the bus, and fire caught it within a moment. The passengers got down from the burning bus; in the meantime, most of them sustained burns, added Takdir, who is also an officer of City Group.
On Friday, miscreants carried out arson attacks at different places across the country, burning at least 40 people, including 10 in Rajshahi.
BDST: 1250 HRS, JAN 24, 2015
