Nine killed as trains collide in Bangladesh

Wed, May 14 12:52 PM

Dhaka, May 14 (PTI) At least nine persons were killed and 30 others injured when two passenger trains collided in the central Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh early today, officials and witnesses said. Northeastern Sylhet-bound Upaban Express hit the waiting Noakhali Express at Ashuganj railway station from rear, killing eight people on the spot and damaging its own engine and six coaches of the two trains, district police chief Ataul Kibria told PTI. Both the trains started their journey from Dhaka late last night.

Kibria said the injured passengers, some of them with critical head injuries, were being treated at Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital and other nearby facilities. Witnesses reached here by phone said a ninth person died at a local hospital as he was being treated there.

Army troops and policemen joined hands with fire brigade rescuers to retrieve the bodies and rescue the injured passengers. "The speed of the Upaban Express was low as it hit the Noakhali Express, otherwise the accident could have been more deadly," railway spokesman Shafique Ahmed Khan said.

Police said the driver and the guard of the the Upaban Express were not found after the accident but "apparent negligence" of the Ashuganj station master was thought to have caused the crash as the train was not given the right signal. PTI.

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