Locals hold bus driver Noor Uddin for his alleged rape attempt on a woman in the vehicle yesterday afternoon. PHOTO: STAR

A woman escaped a rape attempt by jumping off a running bus at Kazir Shimla Bazar in Trishal upazila under the district yesterday.

The victim, aged around 28, was rescued by the locals.

"Today morning I boarded an AG Paribahan bus at Mohakhali Bus Stand in Dhaka to reach my home in Kishoreganj district via Mymensingh," the woman, who works as a domestic help in Dhaka, told this correspondent yesterday afternoon.

"After all other bus passengers got down from the bus at Boilor Bus Stand in Trishal, two bus helpers attempted to sexually assault me in the bus heading towards Mymensingh town," she said.

"The driver stopped the bus and joined with the helpers. I started screaming, got up on a seat and opened a window. Then the driver started the bus again.

At Kazir Shimla Bazar, I jumped out of the running bus through the window. Luckily I was saved unhurt," she said.

Moshihur Rahman, a businessman of Boilor area, said, "As I was going to Kazir Shimla Bazar from Boilor on a motorbike, I saw the woman jumping off the bus. I reached the spot and rescued her around 2:30pm."

"We informed people at Churkhai Bazar in Sadar upazila through mobile to seize the bus and detain the driver and the helpers," said Mizan, another eyewitness of the incident.

There people seized the bus and caught its driver Noor Uddin, 30, who had left the bus and entered a hotel to take lunch, locals said.

Meantime, bus helpers Enamul Haque and Robel Miah managed to flee.

Informed, police rushed to the spot, arrested the bus driver and seized the vehicle.

Police took the victim to the police station around 4:45pm and she filed a case, said Abu Mohammad Fazlul Karim, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station.

Blaming the bus helpers for the incident, driver Noor Uddin said he was not involved in it.