At least three people have been killed and 12 others injured after a train ploughed into a bus at a level crossing in Feni.
The incident took place at Feni Sadar Upazila’s Fatehpur rail crossing on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway on Sunday morning.
A mail train heading to Chattogram from Dhaka was crossing through Fatehpur when it rammed into a Chattogram-bound NR Travels bus carrying passengers from Chapainawabganj, said Rashed Bin Khalid, station officer of Feni Fire Service.
The bus was badly damaged in the collision and landed on the side of the rail track.
Informed of the matter, fire service and police personnel rushed to the spot and started a rescue operation.
Two bus passengers died on the spot. Another person passed away at the hospital after the injured were rushed there, said Rashed.
An injured passenger claimed the bus driver was sleeping, leaving his assistant behind the wheels before the incident. The gateman at the level crossing could not be located after the crash.
“After visiting the spot, I could not find the gateman. Maybe he was asleep at the time of the accident and later fled,” said SI Md Saiful Islam of Feni Railway Police Station.
The authorities could not identify the dead immediately. The bodies are being stored at Feni General Hospital’s morgue. Preparations are underway to start a case at Laksham GRP police station over the incident, Saiful said.
ATM Obaidullah, an emergency department doctor at Feni General Hospital, said 10 of the 12 injured were being treated at his hospital. Of the remaining two, one has been sent to Chattogram Medical College Hospital and the other to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, both in critical condition.
The rail track has been temporarily shut due to the accident, said Mahabub Rahman, station master of Feni Railway Station. However, another Dhaka-Chattogram line nearby is still in operation.
Source: bdnews24.com
