BPC to buy spilled oil at Tk 30 per litre

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will pay Tk 30 for buying per litre of oil spilled from three wagons of a train that plunged into a canal in Boalkhali upazila in Chittagong.

Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Md Mejbah Uddin declared it while visiting the spot, Kitabchar, around 9:45am today, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

Oil from three wagons of a train that plunged into the cabal on Friday afternoon has spread to the adjacent areas and the Karnaphuli river, posing a serious threat to the environment.

There was oil all around the spot where the wagons fell. Oil not only spread to around 20 kilometres area of the canal, it also entered nearby vegetable gardens and water bodies due to the tide, said locals.

Three of the derailed tanker wagons plunged into the canal following the collapse of a railway bridge in Kitabchar area. Two of them sank in the canal. A third was partially submerged while a fourth one had tilted sideways.

Railway authorities had already removed the fourth wagon yesterday, railway sources said.

Oil from the three wagons might already have spilled, said a high official of the railways, seeking anonymity.

Railway sources said each of the wagons was carrying around 25,000 litres of furnace oil.