Supervisor was driving the bus in the Bonpara crash while the driver slept in the back, injured passengers say

At the time of the road accident at Bonpara in Baraigram, Natore, the RP Special Paribahan bus was being driven by its supervisor, Sohail Rana (38), according to several injured passengers. They say the bus's driver and his assistant were sleeping in the back seats at the time.

In the early hours of Tuesday (20 October), 12 people were killed when the passenger bus collided head-on with a sand-laden truck on the Natore-Pabna highway. More than 25 people were injured. While the cause of the horrific accident is under investigation, the question of who was actually driving has now taken on a new dimension.

The supervisor killed in the accident, Sohail Rana, was from Faradpur village in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi. He leaves behind a wife and two children, and his family is now passing its days in grief and uncertainty.

Members of Sohail Rana's family say he started working as a bus supervisor about two years ago. Before that, his family claims, he had been a bus driver—so, according to his relatives, sitting in the driver's seat was not an entirely new experience for him.

Injured passengers said the bus left Barguna at around 7pm on Monday. It later stopped for a break at Ishwardi in Pabna. When the journey resumed from there, supervisor Sohail Rana sat in the driver's seat. A short while later, the bus met with the accident.

Ramzan Ali (28), from Gomostapur upazila in Chapainawabganj, who was injured in the accident and took treatment at Bonpara Patwari Hospital, said the bus reached Ishwardi in Pabna at around 3am. After the hotel break there, when the driver left the driver's seat, supervisor Sohail began driving the bus. At that time, the bus's driver and his assistant went to sleep in the back seats.

According to Ramzan Ali, about an hour later, on reaching Bonpara, the bus collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction. The late-night collision badly damaged both vehicles.

Two more passengers of the bus, Yakub Ali and Abdus Salam, were also injured and took treatment at Bonpara Patwari Hospital. They, too, said the supervisor was driving the bus at the time of the accident, while the driver and his assistant were in the back seats. With several passengers saying the same thing, the matter is gaining importance in the investigation.

Dolly Begum, wife of the deceased supervisor Sohail Rana, said her husband had previously driven buses. He started working as a supervisor about two years ago. By pointing to his former occupation, the family has suggested that he did have driving experience.

The police, however, have not yet officially confirmed the passengers' accounts. Additional Superintendent of Police of Natore, Ifte Khayer Alam, said that since the driver was killed in the collision, it cannot be said with certainty right now who was driving the vehicle.

He said a seven-member committee has already been formed over the incident. He expressed hope that the committee's inquiry will bring out the true picture of the accident.

All eyes are therefore on the investigation committee's report. Only when answers emerge—to the supervisor driving in place of the driver, to those responsible sleeping, and to safety management on the highway at night—will the real reasons behind the loss of so many lives be known.