DANGEROUS TRIPS * Bangladesh - 50 commuters die in bus fire

Dhaka,Bangladesh -The Gulf Daily News (Manama,Bahrain) -7 Jan 2007: -- Around 50 people were feared killed when a bus packed with some 100 passengers crashed on a highway and caught fire southeast of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, yesterday... "First there was a loud explosion and then I saw flames in the bus," a survivor said, breaking down in tears. "As soon as the bus caught fire, it turned over and all of a sudden there was fire everywhere. I was sitting at the front by the door so I jumped from my seat and got out," she said... The bus, which was running on compressed natural gas, was on its way to southeast Chittagong city from Dhaka. It had picked up passengers along the route, some of them riding on the roof... The crash occurred near Comilla town, 100km from Dhaka, as the bus avoided a mini-taxi coming from opposite direction, witnesses said... The gas cylinder on the compressed natural gas (CNG)-run bus exploded, triggering the fire, they said...
COMMENT: Bus mishap deaths
Dhaka,Bangladesh -The New Nation -8 Jan 2007: -- ... The driver of the bus reportedly tried to give passage to a taxi cab at the place of accident. He might have failed to control the movement of the bus, that crashed into the ditch beside the road. The CNG-cylinders of the bus burst and fire engulfed the bus in the process. The bus and most of its passengers were gutted. The fire incident was so disastrous that burnt bodies of passengers were difficult to identify. Fire-fighters and police failed to identify many of the bodies. Even the passengers, who could come out of the bus, failed to identify their family members burnt to ashes...

* Sri Lanka - 15 killed in second Sri Lanka bus blast
Colombo, Sri Lanka- Associated Press/The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland,OH,USA), by Krishan Francis -Jan 7, 2007: -- A bomb on a Sri Lankan passenger bus killed at least 15 people Saturday and wounded dozens more, officials said, blaming Tamil Tiger rebels for the country's second bombing in as many days... The blast, which police suspect was triggered by a suicide bomber, appeared to signal an escalation of the bloody ethnic conflict ravaging the island nation off southern India...
COMMENT: Strict safety measures on buses and trains
Sri Lanka -Sri Lanka Daily Mirror (subscription), by Gagani Weerakoon & Kurulu Kariyakarawana -8 Jan 2007: -- Strict security measures will be in place from today in public transportation after explosions ripped two buses in Nittambuwa and Godagama on two consecutive days, Transport Minister A.H.M. Fowzie said yesterday... He was speaking at a meeting he had with security personnel, police, railway officials and private bus owners...