Head-on train collision in Bangladesh kills at least 15
12 November, 2019
Two trains crashed head-on in eastern Bangladesh early on Tuesday (Nov 12), killing at least 15 people and injuring more than 40, officials said.
The accident took place when a train heading for the port city of Chittagong collided with a train bound for the capital Dhaka at 3am (2100 GMT) in Brahmanbaria, about 100km east of Dhaka.
The impact of the collision left a couple of compartments of the trains mangled, and rescue workers continued searching to reach passengers trapped inside, Hayat Ud Dowlah Khan, Brahmanbaria district administrator told Reuters by phone from the accident site.
"So far, 15 bodies have been recovered," he told Reuters by telephone from the accident site, warning that the toll could rise during the rescue, mounted by fire, police, border guard and army officials.
"More than 40 injured people have been admitted in hospitals," Khan said, adding that some were in critical condition.
Most passengers were asleep at the time of the crash.
"Suddenly there was a big bang. I saw people were screaming," a passenger of the Dhaka-bound train said in television images from the site.
It was not immediately clear how the two trains came to be on the same tracks.
"One of the trains might have broken the signal, leading to the tragedy," one police official, Shayamal Kanti Das, told reporters.
Railway accidents occur relatively frequently in Bangladesh, many of them at unsupervised crossings and also because of the poor condition of tracks.
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