Train burnt as it kills 5
At least five persons were run over and killed by an intercity train, when it ploughed through an opposition rally spilling onto the tracks at Sayedabad near Bangabandhu Mulitpurpose Bridge in Sirajganj yesterday.
The accident happened before BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia reached the venue to address the rally, the stage of which was set just around 15 yards away from the tracks.
More than hundred passengers of the Drutajan Express to Dhaka from Dinajpur were also injured when opposition supporters threw stones at the train and vandalised it before setting it on fire following the accident. The mob also beat up the driver of the train and a guard of the nearby rail crossing.
The injured were admitted to Sirajganj General Hospital and other clinics of the district town.
The dead are -- Shaban Mirza, 60, son of late Sharif Mirza, Suruzzaman, son of late Maram Ali, both of Bagbati; Faruk, son of late Abul Nayem of Haluakhandi; Thandu, son of Abul Hasnat of Beltoil; and Baset of Kayempur, Tangail. Ages of four of the deceased could not be ascertained immediately.
The railway authorities could not give any information about the whereabouts of the train driver till filing of this report at 9:00pm.
All 11 compartments of the train were completely burnt as the fire brigade was obstructed by the mob from reaching the spot, 150 yards away from the rally stage, where the train finally stopped.
The incident occurred when the intercity train reached the rally venue around 3:05pm, but the ralliers on the tracks did not get enough time to get off it.
At least four persons were killed on the spot, and few others were severely injured with some of their legs cut off by the train wheels, while another died on the way to a hospital.
BNP supporters said they did not hear the horn of the train which was not slowed at all near the rally point, although that is also a signal post.
Shahidul, 35, an ice-cream vendor who was standing near the spot, told The Daily Star that the horn could not be heard as the loudspeakers at the rally were also blaring with addresses.
Sohel Rana, president of a local unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the BNP backed student organisation, claimed the train was in full speed when it ploughed through the crowd.
After the accident, the train was slowed down, and some of the ralliers jumped onto it and started beating the driver, witnesses said.
Managing Director of the Western Zone of Bangladesh Railway Anar Mahmud said over the phone that they did not receive any application for permission to hold any rally on the railway track, and they did not give any such permission either.
Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, president of the district unit of BNP, said there was no train scheduled to pass through the area yesterday between 3:00pm and 6:00pm.
Sirajganj Superintendent of Police Mosharraf Hossain said the rally organisers did not ask for police permission to hold the event near the tracks, they only requested for police protection, and forces were deployed accordingly.
When asked why the rally was allowed to be held so close to the tracks, the SP said, "If we wouldn't allow, they would say that the government put obstacles to holding the rally."
The ralliers turned into a mob right after the incident and started throwing stones at the train, many of them got on it and started beating the crew. Passengers alleged that the mob looted their luggage and other valuables. A group of people also vandalised many buses on nearby streets.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion rushed to the spot right after the accident. Police charged batons, and fired at least ten rounds of teargas shells and the same number of rubber bullets to bring the situation under control.
The passengers panicked, and a number of them were injured trying to jump off. Majority of the injured were women and children.
Shamsunnahar, a passenger whose forehead was bleeding from being hit by a stone, told The Daily Star that some young men entered their compartment and looted their luggage. "They looted my bag and purse," she said.
Bimal Kumar Chaki, officer-in-charge of the Government Railway Police Station of Sirajganj, said over the phone that the mob burnt the whole train including the engine room.
They threw brickbats at police and did not let the fire brigade reach the train in blaze, he added.
"The gateman at the nearby crossing had put down the iron bar, but the train ploughed through the crowd after passing through the crossing. The accident occurred as the place was overcrowded," he said.
The crossing is a very busy one, around twenty trains pass through it daily, and everybody knows that, he added.
As Khaleda started her speech at 4:38pm, the train was burning nearby with a dead body lying next to the tracks. The fire brigade was blocked from reaching the burning train by the mob. And when she ended the speech in about 45 minutes, black smoke was still rising from the smouldering skeleton of the locomotive.
Aminul Haque, deputy commissioner of Sirajganj, told reporters in a briefing in his office around 9:00pm that a four-member probe committee with Additional District Magistrate Dipak Ranjan Odhikari as the convenor was formed to investigate the accident. The committee was given seven days to submit a report, he said.
The other members of the committee are Assistant Superintendent of Police Delwar Hossain, Bimal Kumar Chaki, and Divisional Transport Officer of the Western Zone of Bangladesh Railway Shahidul Islam.
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