A bus of Purasha Paribahan, which was under police custody beside Karimpur Highway Police Station in Faridpur, caught fire late Friday night.
The blaze broke out around 10:30pm in an open field along the Faridpur–Magura highway in front of the station.
Fire Service officials said the cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.
Karimpur Highway Police Station Officer‑in‑charge Abdus Salam said he received information about the fire at 10:27pm. On reaching the spot, he saw the bus engulfed in flames. The blaze was later extinguished, but most of the vehicle had already been burned.
Faridpur Fire Service and Civil Defence senior station officer Shribas Barai said it took about 35 minutes to bring the fire under control at 11:10pm.
The cause remains unknown, though possibilities include a mosquito coil, cigarette, deliberate arson, or other sources. He said the matter will be confirmed after investigation.
Highway police sources said the bus had been seized following an accident on 3 September at Meshardia intersection on the Dhaka–Khulna highway in Nawapara union of Madhukhali upazila. The bus had rammed into a truck loaded with flour sacks parked by the roadside, killing the bus supervisor.
Since then, the bus had been kept in police custody as evidence.
Police said the station was relocated to a new building a few months ago, but infrastructure work is not yet complete. Seized vehicles are kept in the open field in front of the station, which has no boundary wall.
OC Abdus Salam said the relocation is still in progress and the field in front of the station remains open. “If there were boundary walls, such untoward incidents could have been avoided,” he said.
