Six killed as lorry collides with train:Daily Star

A train approaching Kamalapur Railway Station T-bones a lorry crossing the rail lines at the Inland Container Depot yesterday. The impact sent the lorry into a spin and caused it to crash into the first carriage of the train. The accident left six people dead. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq Defying signals, a lorry drove onto the rail tracks and collided with a passenger train inside Kamalapur Railway Stati
on's container depot yesterday, leaving at least six people killed and 15 others injured. Two died on the spot and four, including a woman, at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. All were passengers of the train, coming to the capital from Narayanganj, said police and locals. Law enforcers were still searching for the lorry driver, suspected to be the main culprit behind the accident. An official of NS Cargo Ltd that owns the lorry said they lost contacts with driver Rahmat and his helper Ripon soon after the incident. As the train was approaching the Inland Container Depot at the station around 12:45pm, the lorry driver hurriedly tried to cross the railway line ignoring warnings, said Nizam, a depot labourer who witnessed the incident. But the lorry failed to cross the line and the train rammed its rear. On impact, the vehicle spun and crashed onto the train's first compartment, he said. The train dragged the lorry for around 50 yards. Advertisement The mangled wreckage of the lorry and the train carriage after the two collided near Kamalapur Railway Station. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq Rail communications between Dhaka and Narayanganj remained suspended till 7:00pm following the accident. The lorry was moving towards the west side of the depot from the east. Both gates on the railway line inside the depot were opened for the passenger train coming from Narayanganj, an Ansar member, who stood guard at the depot, told The Daily Star. Every train on the Dhaka-Narayanganj route has to cross the depot where scores of lorries load and unload goods, said Abdul Majid, officer-in-charge of Dhaka Railway Police Station.  Mohammad Kasem, who was travelling on the train roof, said several security guards and some passengers signalled the lorry driver to stop, but he ignored all warnings. Ansar member Abdul Hannan, who also was on duty at the depot, said, “I blew whistle and signalled the lorry to stop but it kept moving forward."  As the train's first compartment tilted to the right on impact of the collision, many passengers on the train's roof fell on the ground, he said. "I saw a passenger stuck under the wreckage of the damaged compartment. He was rescued by other passengers and locals," said Kazi Tarim, who was in the same compartment. Titu Alam, a witness to the incident, said the driver fell on the ground from the lorry as the vehicle crashed into the train compartment. Firefighters trying to rescue the injured from the train. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq Of the dead, four were identified as Mujibur Rahman, 60, a trader from Mirpur, Alamgir Hossain, 45, a van driver from South Keraniganj, and Naim Sikder, a student of class-IX from Barsial, and Ismail Hossain, a trader from Narayanganj. Identity of the other two, including a woman, could not be known. The bodies were kept at Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy, said Inspector Mozammel Haque, in-charge at the DMCH Police Outpost. Of the injured, eight are under treatment at the DMCH. The condition of four of them was critical, said doctors. Sakhina Akter, wife of deceased Mujibur, told this correspondent that her husband went to Narayanganj to sell bamboos. "Please come home safely … I am waiting for you," she told him over the phone around 11:30am. "I will return home after taking lunch at a relative's house at Karwan Bazar," Mujibur said in reply. Railway officials said around 600 passengers, including more than 50 on the roof, were travelling in the train's seven compartments. Railway Minister Mujibul Haque visited the spot in the afternoon and expressed grief over the accident. A three-member committee, headed by a railway official, was formed to probe the incident and asked to submit report within three working days, said the minister. The railway authorities filed a case with railway police at Kamalapur against the lorry driver and his helper, whose whereabouts remained unknown till last night.