At least 11 people, including two children, were killed and 60 others injured as a train rammed into a bus carrying a wedding party while it was crossing the Barobazar level crossing in Kaliganj upazila of Jhenidah early Friday.The deceased were identified as Sanjoy Kumar, 34, Sudhir Kumar Biswas, 40, Sujoy Kumar, 34, Biplob Biswas, 25, Shovon De, 25, Koushik Das 8, Oishi, 7, Banya Rani, 65, Trisna Rani, 24, Subal Kumar Biswas, 45, all hailing from Phulahari village of Sailkupa upazila.Witnesses said, nine passengers of the bus died on the spot. Of the injured succumbed to his injuries at Kaliganj upazila health complex. Another death was reported later. Over 50 injured passengers were admitted to Jhendiah Sadar Hospital, Kaliganj Health Complex and Jessore General Hospital.Condition of ten people who were undergoing treatment at Jessore Medical College Hospital was stated to be critical.Doctors say the death toll may rise. The injured passengers said they were on their way home at Phulahari village by the bus after attending a marriage ceremony at Sanko Mothanpur village of Kaliganj upazila of the district when the mishap took place.Rail communications between Khulna and other parts of the country came to halt following the accident. However, the train links were restored after 8 hours at around 11 am after a salvage train from Khulna hauled away the wreckage of the bus from the site of the accident and . Deputy Commissioner of Jhenidah Shafiqul Islam said the Khulna-bound ‘Simanto Express’ train from Jessore rammed the bus carrying the wedding party when it was passing Barobazar level crossing around 3:45 am, leaving nine passengers of the bus dead on the spot.The train dragged the bus one kilometer away from the spot, he said.On information, police and fire fighting units from Jessore and Jhenidah rushed to the spot and pulled out nine bodies from the mangled bus. Deputy Commissioner Shafiqul Islam and Additional Police Super Md Hasanuzzaman visited the spot.Jhenidah circle superintendent of police Jahidul Islam said the accident might have took place due to negligence of the on-duty gateman. The crossing appears to have been unmanned and open. The SP said that they were looking into whether the negligence of the gateman at the crossing caused the crash.Such accidents, frequent in Bangladesh, are blamed on the poor maintenance and human errors in the railways.There are hundreds of unmanned crossings across the country, especially in remote areas.
