A man died after jumping into the Turag River while trying to flee from a crowd that chased him for setting a bus on fire in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Thursday night.

The incident took place around 10:10pm near the Mirpur Zoo area along the Beribadh road beside the Turag River, where the bus was parked.

Confirming the incident, Turag Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Matiur Rahman told The Daily Star that one person has been detained in connection with the arson.

According to police, two miscreants tried to set fire to a parked bus belonging to Kiranmala Paribahan on the Beribadh road. Locals chased them, managing to catch one of them, while the other fled and jumped into the Turag River.

"The body of the youth who jumped into the river was recovered around 10:30pm," said Inspector Matiur.

"He appeared to be between 22 and 25 years old. The body has been sent to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital," he said.

Duty Officer Rakibul Hasan of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters told The Daily Star that a fire service team rushed to the spot after receiving a report about the bus fire at 10:10pm.

"The team extinguished the blaze shortly after arrival, but several bus seats were burned," he said.

Police and fire service officials could not immediately confirm the identities of the deceased youth or the one detained.