Police recovered the five bodies from the spot and those were kept at Osmani Medical College and Hospital morgue, said civil surgeon of the district Shajahan Kabir Chowdhury.
Sixty-seven of the injured were taken to Kulaura and Moulvibazar hospitals and among them 20 were sent to Osmani Medical College and Hospital, he said.
Among the deceased, two were identified as Monwara Pervin, 48, wife of Abdul Bari of Kulaura municipality area, and Fahmida Akhter, 20.
The accident took place when six coaches of Dhaka-bound ‘Upaban Express’ from Sylhet veered off the tracks around 11:40pm after a culvert over the Barochhara Canal, 200 yards off Baramchal Railway Station, broke down, said Yardous Hasan, officer-in-charge of Kulaura Police Station.
Two of the coaches fell into the canal and one of them overturned, he said.
The OC said the train has already left the accident spot for Dhaka with seven coaches.
Moulvibazar Police Super Mohammad Shahajalal said two platoons of BGB members were engaged in rescue operation.
He said a number of ambulances from government and non-government hospitals of the region carried the injured passengers to hospitals with the help of the district administration and police.
On information, 27 units of fire service members, police and locals rushed in, and conducted the rescue operation, said officer-in-charge of Kulaura Government Railway Police Station Md Abdul Malek.
Kulaura Rail Station local in-charge Dulal Chandra Das said the train was overloaded with passengers as the bus services on Dhaka-Sylhet Highway remained halted since June 18 as a bailey bridge at Shahabajpur in Sarail of Brahmanbaria district collapsed.
Kulaura Upazila Health Complex health officer Dr Nurul Haque said 20 seriously injured passengers were taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital while some others to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital.
The accident disrupted Sylhet’s rail communications with other parts of the country, including the capital.
Meanwhile, a three-member probe body, including Railway’s east-zone engineer Mizanur Rahman, was formed to probe the incident.