Four buses torched in three nights in Savar and Dhamrai, sabotage suspected

Four buses have been set on fire at four separate places in the Savar and Dhamrai upazilas of Dhaka over three nights. The incidents took place from last Thursday to last Saturday night.

No passenger or anyone else was killed or injured, as the buses were parked at midnight when the fires broke out.

Jahangir Alam, senior station officer of the Savar Fire Service and Civil Defence station, and Al Amin Khan, station officer of the Dhamrai Fire Service and Civil Defence station, confirmed the incidents at noon on Sunday.

Police said it had not yet been possible to confirm why the bus fires were happening and who was involved. The fire service, however, suspects sabotage.

Officials of the Savar Fire Service said that on Saturday night, the driver of a Savar Paribahan passenger bus parked it beside the Dhaka-Aricha highway in the Savar Thana Stand area. The Savar Fire Service received news of the fire in the bus at 2:55 am. Two fire service units then went and put out the fire.

Md Jahangir Alam, senior station officer of the Savar Fire Service and Civil Defence station, said the fire was extinguished at 3:08 am. There was no driver or anyone else in the bus. At first glance, it looks like sabotage.

Meanwhile, three buses caught fire at three separate places in Dhamrai upazila over the last three nights. Officials of the Dhamrai Fire Service and Civil Defence station said that at around 3:40 am on Saturday night, a D-Link Paribahan bus caught fire in front of Afaz Uddin College in the Sharifbagh area. On receiving the news, two units of the Dhamrai Fire Service started working to bring the fire under control. The fire was fully extinguished at around 4:20 am.

Earlier, on Friday night, a bus named Palli Seba, used to carry garment workers, caught fire on the service lane of the Dhaka-Aricha highway in the Srirampur area of the upazila. The Dhamrai Fire Service learned of it at 2:15 am. Two fire service units then went and fully extinguished the fire at 3:20 am.

Apart from that, at 2:35 am on Thursday night, the fire service received news of a fire in a Pavel Paribahan bus kept for repairs in the Dhamrai Thana Road area. Two fire service units then went and extinguished the fire at 3:10 am.

Al-Amin Khan, station officer of the Dhamrai Fire Service and Civil Defence station, said the same kind of incident had occurred at separate places on three consecutive nights. The incidents look like sabotage.

He said that after the vehicles were cleaned and locked and people left, someone was deliberately doing this at night, whether a passerby or someone else.

Md Nazmul Huda Khan, officer-in-charge of Dhamrai police station, said three buses had caught fire over three nights. Why the incidents were happening and who was involved had not yet been confirmed. However, keeping the political situation and various other matters in view, they were trying to uncover the real cause and bring those involved under the law.

The OC further said the owner of the bus in the Dhamrai Thana Road incident had said he would file a case. The matter of the case is under process.

Meanwhile, the Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association has expressed concern over incidents of arson and vandalism of vehicles in the capital and elsewhere in the country. It gave a letter on the matter to Inspector General of Police Ali Hossain Fakir on Sunday.

The organisation requested urgent legal action against those involved in setting fire to six vehicles on Dhaka and inter-district routes on 6 and 7 November.