Two buses catch fire in one night in Savar, police suspect arson

Two buses caught fire in a single night in Savar, near Dhaka. The buses were parked at the Genda and Baliarpur bus stands on the Dhaka-Aricha highway, and there are allegations that the fires were deliberately set.

According to Savar police station and fire service sources, a bus parked at the Genda bus stand caught fire at around 1 am on Sunday night. The bus was used to transport garment workers.

In a separate incident, a passenger bus of Itihas Paribahan caught fire at around 4 am on Monday in front of the Tata Servicing Centre at the Baliarpur bus stand.

Mohammad Saiful Alam, officer-in-charge of Savar police station, and Jahangir Alam, station officer of Savar Fire Service, confirmed that the two buses had caught fire.

However, the fire service could not confirm how the fires started. Jahangir Alam said that after receiving news of the fires, firefighters rushed to the scene and brought the flames under control.

He said it could not be confirmed whether someone had set fire to the buses or whether the fires had started for some other reason.

Officer-in-charge Mohammad Saiful Alam said he believed the buses were being set on fire at the instigation of a certain quarter. He said police were trying to identify those responsible and bring them under the law.

The officer-in-charge added that bus owners and workers park their buses indiscriminately. This makes it easy for miscreants to set fire to them.

He said bus owners and workers would be made aware of the need not to park buses indiscriminately.

He said that if buses were kept in safe places and guarded at night, miscreants would not get the chance to set them on fire.

The two fires in one night have caused concern in the area. Police are investigating the incidents and trying to identify those involved.