Uttara crane accident: 9 including operator arrested

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested nine people including the crane operator over the death of five members of a family who were killed after a girder of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project collapsed on their microbus in the capital’s Uttara. 

They were arrested from Dhaka, Gazipur, Sirajganj and Bagerhat on Wednesday night. 

RAB’s Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandaker Al Moen confirmed the matter to Jago News. 

He said they went into hiding in different parts of the country after the incident. 

Further details regarding them will be disclosed at a press conference at RAB’s media centre in Karwan Bazar on Thursday noon, said the elite force officer.

On Monday afternoon, five persons, including two children, were killed as a girder of under-construction Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project collapsed on a private car in front of the Paradise Tower in Uttara 3 No. sector. 

The victims were returning after attending a wedding ceremony in Dhaka.

The deceased are Aiyub Ali Hossain Rubel, 55, Jharna Akter, 27, Fahima Akter, 38, Jannatul, 6 and Jakaria, 4. 

They were crushed under the girder that fell when it was being moved by a crane. 

The newly-wed couple Hridoy, 26 and Ria Moni, 21, were also critically injured in the accident.

Md Afran Mondol Babu, brother of the deceased Fahima and Jharna, filed the case against the crane operator, contracting company and other concerned people with Uttara Paschim Police Station on Monday night. The case number is 42. 

However, the Road Transport and Highways Department formed a five-member committee over the accident.