At least 17 people, including three children, were killed and 35 others were injured after the bus plunged into the pond in Bangladesh's Chhatrakanda area under Jhalakathi Sadar Upazila on Saturday, The Daily Star reported.
The survivors blamed the driver's carelessness for the accident. They also said the bus was overloaded with passengers, which might have contributed to the accident.
The Barishal-bound bus of "Bashar Smriti Paribahan", which was carrying over 60 passengers against its capacity of 52, left Pirojpur's Bhandaria around 9:00 am and fell into a roadside pond in Chhatrakanda on the Barishal-Khulna highway around 10:00 am.
"I boarded the bus from Bhandaria. The bus was overcrowded with passengers. Some of them were standing on the aisle. I saw the driver talking to the supervisor. Suddenly, the bus came off the road and crashed," said Md Momin, a survivor.
"All the passengers were trapped inside the bus. As it was overloaded, the bus drowned instantly. I could somehow manage to scramble out of the bus," Momin added.
Barishal Divisional Commissioner Md Shawkat Ali confirmed that all 17 people died on the spot and the remaining injured were carried to the hospital, reported The Daily Star.
Most of the victims are residents of Pirojpur's Bhandaria upazila and Jhalkathi's Rajapur area, said police.
Bus accidents in Bangladesh have become common. According to the Road Safety Foundation (RSF), a total of 559 road accidents occurred only in June. the accidents claimed 562 people and 812 others sustained injuries.
The report released on Wednesday further said that 169 people were killed in 207 motorcycle accidents across the country which makes 33.75 per cent of total deaths, as per Dhaka Tribune.
According to the report, 78 were women and 114 were children.
However, nine people died and seven went missing in nine waterway accidents, while at least 18 people were killed and eleven were injured in 21 railway accidents during the same period, according to Dhaka Tribune.
Moreover, during this period, at least 38 sacrificial animals were killed in accidents. Additionally, 99 pedestrians were killed in road accidents which accounts for 19.18 per cent of the total number of deaths. 76 drivers and their assistants have been killed which makes 14.72 per cent of the total fatalities, reported Dhaka Tribune.
According to Road Safety Foundation's observation and analysis, the highest number, 247 (44.18 per cent), of accidents occurred on regional roads, 182 (32.55 per cent) on national highways, 59 (10.55 per cent) on rural roads, and three (0.53 per cent) on urban roads.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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