Train runs thru' crowd: 4 killed
Four people were killed in an illegal fish market set up on railway lines in Karwan Bazar yesterday as they jumped on to the path of an express train to avoid being run over by another train.
Five others were seriously injured in the accident.
Around 8:45am Karnaphuli Express heading for Chittagong and Jamuna Express heading for Kamalapur were crossing each other at the spot, a regular but illegal fish market, witnesses said.
Seeing Karnaphuli coming in and whistling, people who were in its way rushed to the adjacent rail line, said Gateman Abu Ahmed, of a nearby level crossing.
“They did not realise that Jamuna Express was coming from behind a blind curve there,” he told The Daily Star.
Abdul Malek, 45, an official at the department of agriculture extension, Nur Mohammad, 40, a banana trader, and Monwara Begum, 40, a housewife, died. The identity of a dead woman could not be known.
Nur Mohammad died on the spot and the rest at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The five injured were: Syed Hossain, 40, Fazlu Khan, 45, his nephew Rakib Khan, 15, Salma Begum, 45, and Parul Akter, 40, said DMCH sources.
Fazlu, a fruit vendor from Khilgaon, said Rakib and he were walking along the line Karnaphuli was using.
“Seeing a train coming, Rakib and I stepped on to the next line. When we realised that another train was coming from the opposite direction it was too late. I did not hear any whistle,” said Fazlu at DMCH.
Several witnesses also said the driver of the Jamuna, coming from Mymensingh, did not blow any whistle while passing through the area.
Tafazzal Hossain, director general of Bangladesh Railway, said the rail authority had no fault. People were on the rail line illegally risking their lives, he said.
However, there are widespread allegations that railway staff, politicians and traders are involved in running these illegal markets on train lines from which a significant amount of toll is collected.
Locals said about 100 traders sell fish on and beside the rail line regularly.
After buying fish from nearby Karwan Bazar, they start selling from dawn and continue until 11:00am. Many, who either steal or pick fish from the wholesale market, also join in. Several hundred people gather there every day.
Locals buy fish from there.
Deceased Monwara's husband Kawsar Hawlader said she went out around 7:45am from their Bangla Motor home.
“She used to buy fish there regularly as it is comparatively cheaper there and she usually came back home around 9:00am. Yesterday, she was late and then I saw the news on TV,” said Kawsar.
Several hours after the accident, the basket full of bananas belonging to Nur was seen at the very place where he was hit. His 14-year-old son Monir said his father had gone to Karwan Bazar from Khilgaon to sell bananas.
The bodies of Nur and Monwara were handed over to their families while those of the other two were at Dhaka Medical College morgue awaiting autopsy.
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