Kazi Saif Ahmed Soumya was 30. His wife, Zahura Anti, was 27 and a medical student. They were buried side by side at Rajbari’s New Bazar cemetery after one joint funeral, two of the 26 people who died when a bus slid off a ferry ramp into the Padma River on Wednesday, 25 March 2026.
It happened at the Daulatdia ferry terminal in Goalanda, Rajbari district. The bus belonged to Souhardo Transport. At least 40 passengers were on board, The Daily Star reported. Fire Service officials counted eight men, seven children and 11 women among the dead. The youngest victim, Arman, was seven months old.
How the bus went in
Eyewitnesses told the Financial Express, through the UNB news agency, that the bus was waiting for a ferry when a smaller one arrived. The bus struck the pontoon at 25-30 km/h, the driver lost control, and it sank. It was a ferry approach, not an open road.
The terminal itself is now under scrutiny. Monir Hossain, who supervises Souhardo Transport at the Daulatdia ghat, alleged that inexperienced third-grade staff of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) often send several Dhaka-bound vehicles onto the ghat at once. That, he said, makes the pontoon ramp dangerously crowded. BIWTC Chairman Md. Salim Ullah and Ali Newaz Mahmud Khaiyum, the MP for Rajbari-1, visited on Thursday. They promised a proper investigation and repairs to the dilapidated ghat.
Md. Hafizur Rahman, an assistant commissioner, said the first assessment pointed to a possible technical fault in the bus. The exact cause is for the investigation committee to decide.
Recovery and aid
Four units, including 10 divers, worked the river with help from the army, police, the Coast Guard, local administration and the BIWTC, whose rescue ship Hamza took part. Dewan Sohel Rana, a deputy director of the fire service, said by Friday that 22 bodies had gone back to their families. Officials said no one else was reported missing, though Rana added that the search would restart at once if anyone were named. The district administration is paying Tk 25,000 to each bereaved family and Tk 15,000 to each injured passenger.
The five-member probe, headed by additional district magistrate Uchen Mey, was formed at midnight on Wednesday. It has three working days to report to the deputy commissioner.
Sources
- Padma Bus Tragedy: 26 bodies recovered (The Daily Star)
- Bodies of 26 dead in Rajbari bus accident, probe committee formed (The Financial Express / UNB)
