At least eight killed as trains collide at Ashuganj

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At least eight people were killed and around 100 others injured when two passenger trains collided at Ashuganj station in Brahmanbaria in the early hours today.

As the Sylhet-bound speeding Upaban Express hit a Noakhali-bound train standing at the station at about 12:10am, engines and bogies of both the trains went off the tracks on impact.

Bangladesh Railway (BR) sources said several hundred passengers were on board the locomotives during the collision.

Sub-inspector Kamruzzaman of Ashuganj Police Station told The Daily Star over phone at 12:45am that so far they have recovered eight bodies and rushed around 100 injured to different local hospitals and clinics.

He said they found the bodies and injured passengers outside the damaged carriages.

As it was dark, they could not get inside and ascertain the extent of the casualties, he said adding that the death toll might rise.

Identities of the victims could not yet be known.

Ashuganj and Bhairab police and locals were working to rescue the injured passengers.

Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Government Railway Police (GRP), said a rescue train was already on its way to the scene.

OC of Bhairab Police Station Abdul Baten said, “Engine of Upaban Express was damaged partially while two bogies of Noakhali Express were left mangled.”

BR sources said movement of all trains along the route was suspended immediately after the accident.

Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) sources said one of their vans from Ashuganj unit was taking part in the rescue operation.

Sources in the capital’s Kamalapur Railway Station said Noakhali Express left Dhaka for Noakhali at 8:10pm while Upaban Express left for Sylhet at 10:00pm Tuesday.

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