At least 17 people were killed and many others injured when a container train hit a passenger train near Bhairab railway station in Kishoreganj, police said.
The incident happened around 3:30pm when a Chattogram-bound container train hit Dhaka-bound Egarosindhur Express, said Sirajul Islam, duty officer of Bhairab Railway Police Station.
Confirming the death toll, Bhairab upazila nirbahi officer Sadiqur Rahman said that the Egarosindhur Express was travelling to Dhaka using lane number three after it changed lane at the station.
The container train, which was using lane number two, then hit the passenger train, causing its last two bogies to derail, he said.
Sadiqur said the two derailed bogies were carrying at least 200 passengers, and many of them were injured.
A doctor at the Bhairab Upazila Health Complex said they have received so far three bodies from the accident.
Bhairab upazila nirbahi officer Md Sadiqur Rahman Sabuz told New Age that till 6:00pm 17 people were killed and many others were injured.
The officer said they didn’t know the exact number of the injured poeple as many of the injured were taken to the nearby hospitals and some were taken to Dhaka.
Rescue operation was going on and two wreckers were on the way to remove the compartments from the tracks, he said.
Railway’s Shafiqur Rahman said that soon after the crash the train movement from Chittagong and Sylhet to Dhaka were suspended.
‘As far we know, the container train hit the last three compartments of the passenger train,’ he said and added that they were on the way to the spot.
Relief train already reached the spot, he added.
