train accident
Man crushed under train wheels in Dhaka
A man died after falling under the wheels of a running train while trying to get it off at Dhaka Airport railway station early Tuesday.
When the 60-year-old unidentified man was trying to get off the moving train around 9 am he slipped and fell under the wheels, said Sanu Mong Marma, ASI of Dhaka Railway Police Station.
The body was sent to the morgue of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for an autopsy, he said.
Railway suspends 3 employees over Cumilla train collision, salvage work continues
Bangladesh Railway has suspended thee of its employees over Sunday’s collision between Sonar Bangla Express train and a freight train that left 35 people injured.
They are Abdul Quader, a guard (Chattogram division) ; Jasim Uddin, locomotive master (Dhaka headquarter); and Md Mohsin, assistant locomotive master (Dhaka headquarter).
Wahid, who was in charge of maintaining Hasanpur station signal, was also suspended.
Also Read: Two trains collide at Hasanpur Station in Cumilla; at least 20 injured
A four-member probe body was formed which was asked to submit the report within three working days.
Meanwhile, the train movement resumed after 9 pm on Sunday after two salvage trains removed the bogies from the main lines, train examiner SM Akhtar Hossain and Station Master of Hasanpur Railway Station Mong Marma said.
Work to remove the other bogies is underway, they said.
Six bogies and the locomotive of Sonar Bangla Express train derailed on Sunday injuring at least 35 passengers and six of them are in critical condition.
Several of the injured are being treated at Nangalkot Health Complex.
Officer-in-charge of Laksham Railway Police Station Jashim Uddin said, the Dhaka bound freight train was stationed in a line on the Hasanpur station.
Dhaka- bound Sonar Bangla Express from Chattagram wrongly entered the same line and hit the rear side of the freight train at around 6:22 pm.
Rescuers comb wreckage of Greece’s deadliest train crash
Rescuers searched late into the night Wednesday for survivors amid the mangled, burned-out wrecks of two trains that collided in northern Greece, killing at least 43 people and crumpling carriages into twisted steel knots in the country’s deadliest rail crash.
The impact just before midnight Tuesday threw some passengers into ceilings and out the windows.
“My head hit the roof of the carriage with the jolt,” Stefanos Gogakos, who was in a rear car, told state broadcaster ERT. He said windows shattered, showering riders with glass.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the collision of the passenger train and a freight train “a horrific rail accident without precedent in our country,” and pledged a full, independent investigation.
He said it appeared the crash was “mainly due to a tragic human error,” but did not elaborate.
The train from Athens to Thessaloniki was carrying 350 passengers, many of them students returning from raucous Carnival celebrations. While the track is double, both trains were traveling in opposite directions on the same line near the Vale of Tempe, a river valley about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens.
STATIONMASTER ARRESTED; MINISTER RESIGNS
Authorities arrested the stationmaster at the train’s last stop, in the city of Larissa. They did not release the man’s name or the reason for the arrest, but the stationmaster is responsible for rail traffic on that stretch of the tracks. He was due to appear before a prosecutor Thursday to be formally charged.
Transportation Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned, saying he was stepping down “as a basic indication of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly.”
Karamanlis said he had made “every effort” to improve a railway system that had been “in a state that doesn’t befit the 21st century.”
But, he added, “When something this tragic happens, it’s impossible to continue as if nothing has happened.”
The union representing train workers announced a 24-hour strike for Thursday, while protests by left-wing groups broke out in Athens late Wednesday. Athens metro workers also called a 24-hour strike for Thursday, saying they face similar problems as railway employees.
WRECKAGE MAKES RESCUE EFFORTS DIFFICULT
Emergency workers used cranes and other heavy machinery to move large pieces of the trains, revealing more bodies and dismembered remains. The operation was to continue overnight, with firefighters proceeding painstakingly through the wreckage.
“It’s unlikely there will be survivors, but hope dies last,” rescuer Nikos Zygouris said.
Larissa’s chief coroner, Roubini Leondari, said 43 bodies had been brought to her for examination and would require DNA identification as they were largely disfigured.
“Most (of the bodies) are young people,” she told ERT. “They are in very bad condition.”
Greece’s firefighting service said 57 people remained hospitalized late Wednesday, including six in intensive care. More than 15 others were discharged after receiving treatment.
More than 200 people who were unharmed or suffered minor injuries were taken by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the north. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to track anyone who may be missing.
Hellenic Train, which operates all of Greece’s passenger and cargo trains, including those that collided, offered its “heartfelt condolences” to the victims’ families. The company belongs to Italy’s state railways.
Eight rail employees were among the dead, including the two drivers of the freight train and the two drivers of the passenger train, according to Yannis Nitsas, president of the Greek Railroad Workers Union.
The union called the one-day strike to protest what it said was chronic neglect of Greece’s railways by successive governments.
“Unfortunately, our long-standing demands for staff hirings, better training and above all use of modern safety technology always end up in the wastepaper basket,” it said in a statement.
PASSENGERS SAY TRAIN CRASH WAS LIKE AN EXPLOSION
A teenage survivor who did not give his name to reporters said that just before the crash he felt sudden braking and saw sparks — and then there was a sudden stop.
“Our carriage didn’t derail, but the ones in front did and were smashed,” he said, visibly shaken. He used a bag to break the window of his car, the fourth, and escape.
Gogakos said the crash felt like an explosion, and some smoke entered the carriage. He said some passengers escaped through windows but that after a few minutes, crew members were able to open the doors and let people out.
Multiple cars derailed, and at least one burst into flames.
“Temperatures reached 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,372 degrees Fahrenheit), which makes it even more difficult to identify the people who were in it,” fire service spokesperson Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said.
A man who was trying to ascertain the fate of his daughter, who was on the train, said he had a harrowing phone conversation with her before she was cut off.
“She told me, ‘We’re on fire. ... My hair is burning,’” he told ERT, without giving his name.
GREECE GOES FROM CARNIVAL TO MOURNING
Many of the passengers were students returning to Thessaloniki from Carnival, but officials said but no detailed passenger list was available. This year was the first time the festival, which precedes Lent, was celebrated in full since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
The government declared three days of national mourning from Wednesday, while flags flew at half-staff outside all European Commission buildings in Brussels.
Visiting the accident scene, Prime Minister Mitsotakis said the government must help the injured recover and identify the dead.
“I can guarantee one thing: We will find out the causes of this tragedy, and we will do all that’s in our power so that something like this never happens again,” Mitsotakis said.
It was the country’s deadliest rail crash on record. In 1968, 34 people died in a crash in the southern Peloponnese region.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou broke off an official visit to Moldova to visit the scene, laying flowers beside the wreckage.
Pope Francis offered condolences to the families of the dead in a message sent to the president of the Greek bishops conference by the Vatican’s secretary of state,
Condolences poured in from around the world, including neighboring Turkey, Greece’s historic regional rival. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed sorrow and wishes for a speedy recovery for those injured, his office said.
Despite the frosty relations between the two NATO members, Greece’s leadership had called Erdogan last month following a massive earthquake that killed tens of thousands in Turkey.
In Athens, several hundred members of left-wing groups marched late Wednesday to protest the train deaths. Minor clashes broke out as some protesters threw stones at the offices of Greece’s rail operator and riot police and set dumpsters on fire. No arrests or injuries were reported.
Man crushed under train in Ctg’s Faujdarhat
A 55-year-old man died under a train while crossing the rail tracks at Chalimpur union’s Faujdarhat area in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram district on Saturday.
The deceased, Salauddin, was the son of late Ledur of the area.
Locals said the man, a night guard of Seema Steel Factory, was on his way home after his shift ended in the morning. He fell while crossing the tracks and was crushed under a train.
Also Read: Deaf toddler crushed under train in Faridpur
Hasan Ali, ASI of GRP Police Phari confirmed the incident.
Youth crushed under wheels of train in Mohakhali
A youth was crushed under the wheels of a train in Mohakhali rail gate area of the capital Friday, Government Railway Police (GRP) said.
Though the identity of the victim could not be known immediately, he was aged between 20 to 25 years.
Sanu Mong, assistant sub inspector at Dhaka Railway Police Station in GRP, quoting witnesses said that the accident happened around 11.30am when the Kamalapur-bound train ‘Agnebeena’ hit him when he was crossing the train track while on his mobile phone in the rail gate area.
Also Read: Ten people hurt in collision between locomotive and train in Nilphamari
The impact from the accident severed his body into two parts, Mong said, adding that on information they recovered the body.
The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy after completing legal procedures, the ASI added.
3 dead as bus hits motorbike in Faridpur; Bus set ablaze
Three people including two members of a family were killed when a bus hit a motorbike at Mansurabad in Bhanga upazila of Faridpur district on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Moin Uddin Sheikh, 35, his daughter Tabassum, 10 and Sourav Matabbar, 16, son of Miraj Matabbar of Nagarkanda upazila.
Helal Uddin Bhuiya, additional superintendent of Faridpur (Bhanga circle) Police, said the accident occurred around 12:30 pm when the Dhaka-bound bus of ‘Star Line Paribahan’ from Gopalganj hit the motorbike coming from opposite direction, leaving two riders dead on the spot and the girl injured.
Also read: Bangladesh 88th among 183 countries in road accident death rate: Minister
Injured Tabassum was taken to a local hospital where doctors pronounced her dead.
Agitated local people put up barricade on the road and set the bus on fire after the accident.
On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
1 killed, 27 hurt as train hits bus in Sirajganj
A man was killed and 27 people were injured when a train hit a bus on a level crossing near Shaheed Mansur Ali Station in Sadar upazila of Sirajganj district early Thursday.
The identity of the deceased could not be known immediately.
Harun-or-Rashid, officer-in-charge of Sirajganj Bazar Railway Police Station, said the Rajshahi-bound inter-city train ‘Padma Express’ from Dhaka hit the Dhaka-bound bus from Thakurgaon while it was passing the level crossing at Kaddar intersection around 4:30 am, leaving one killed on the spot and 27 others injured.
Read more: Noakhali Chhatra Dal leader killed as covered van rams motorcycle
The accident occurred when the bus tried to pass the level crossing hurriedly amid dense fog. The gateman was found absent.
Rail communication of Dhaka with northern parts of the country has been suspended as the engine of the train went out of order after the accident.
The injured were taken to Sirajganj 250-bed Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib General Hospital.
Unidentified man crushed under train in Sylhet
An unidentified man got crushed under a speeding train in Sylhet on Sunday.
Locals spotted the disfigured body of the man lying at Shibbari rail crossing at South Surma area in the city in morning and informed railway police, said SM Kamal Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of Sylhet railway police station.
Read more: 4 die as train hits auto-rickshaw in Cumilla
The body has been recovered and he might have been hit by Dhaka bound Kalni Express train in the morning, said the OC.
The body has been sent for an autopsy and efforts are on to know his identity, he said.
4 die as train hits auto-rickshaw in Cumilla
Four people were killed as a train hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on a level crossing in Manoharganj upazila of Cumilla Tuesday morning.
The deceased were identified as Maksudur Rahman,65,Habibur Rahman,30, Habib Mia,25, residents of Uttar Howla village of Manoharganj upazila and Mahiful Begum,31, wife of Afzalur Rahman of Shaktala village of Nangalkot upazila.
Dhaka-bound Noakhali Express train rammed into the auto-rickshaw when it was passing the level crossing near Khilar Tughuria area around 10 am, leaving three people dead on the spot, Jasim Uddin, officer-in-charge of Laksam Railway Police Station, said.
Also read: Train crash leaves wife dead, husband injured in Natore
Meanwhile, the injured auto-rickshaw driver died while undergoing treatment at a hospital.
Police recovered the bodies and handed them over to their respective families, added the OC.
Ex-DGM of Bangladesh Bank crushed under train in city
A 59- year old man was crushed under the wheels of a train at Khilgaon level crossing in the capital Saturday morning.
The deceased was identified as Fakhrul Islam, former Deputy General Manager of Bangladesh Bank, said Md Riaz Mahmud, Sub Inspector of Dhaka railway police station.
Also read: Youth with earphones on hit by train in Ctg
Intercity express train ‘Sundarban Express’ knocked down Fakhrul Islam as he was walking on the rail tracks around 8:30 am, leaving him dead on the spot, said the SI.
Fakhrul used to live in Wari area with his family.
Also read: 28-yr-old killed by train in Ctg
The body was sent for an autopsy, said the SI.