Chattogram delinked as train derails in Cumilla

Rail services to and from Chattogram have remained suspended since a train derailed in Cumilla yesterday afternoon.

At least nine compartments of a Jamalpur-bound Bijoy Express train from Chattogram derailed near the Hasanpur Railway Station in Nangalkot upazila around 1:30pm, said Debasis Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Nangalkot Police Station, adding that around 10-12 people were injured.

Ismail Hossain, Nangalkot's upazila nirbahi officer, said that four of the injured suffered major injuries.

All four are under treatment.

Liakot Ali Khan, sub-assistant engineer of Bangladesh Railways (Cumilla region), said the derailment may have occurred after excessive heat deformed the tracks.

Meanwhile, a top BR official said that a local found three bearing plates and a bag, containing some books and an ID card, on the spot and handed those over to the railway authorities.

The man told the officials that he saw some boys roaming the tracks ahead of the accident, and after he chased them away, he found the bearing plates and the bag.

Contacted, Hasan Chowdhury, superintendent of Chattogram Railway Police, said railway officials have lodged a complaint in this regard and an investigation is underway.

Train services on both lines -- connecting Chattogram to Dhaka, Sylhet and Jamalpur -- were suspended after the accident, said Murad Ullah Bahar, OC of Cumilla's Laksham Railway Police Station.

"Train communications on these routes will resume after the Bijoy Express is salvaged," he told The Daily Star.

A relief train from Brahmanbaria reached the spot around 8:30pm and started salvage operation, said Saiful Islam, Chattogram divisional railway manager, adding that another was heading there from Chattogram.

A probe body, led by Anisur Rahman, divisional transport officer (Chattogram), was formed to investigate the accident.

As of filing this report around 1:00am, the rails links were yet to be restored.