Two packed trains yesterday rammed into each other in Bangladesh, killing at least 16 people and injuring nearly 60 others, police said.
Three coaches were sent crashing off the tracks at Mondobhag station in the town of Kasba, when a Dhaka-bound train and a locomotive bound for Chittagong collided.
“At least 16 people have been killed and another 58 were injured. We have sent the injured to different hospitals in the region,” local police chief Anisur Rahman said.
Cranes and other lifting gear were brought in to rescue trapped passengers, many of whom were asleep when the early morning crash took place.
“There was a loud noise, then I saw the train was completely ripped apart,” one injured passenger told Somoy TV.
“All the people around me were crying. There was blood everywhere. Some people had broken hands and legs,” another told the broadcaster.
“My son was with me. I still don’t know what happened to him,” the man added.
District official Hayat ud Doula Khan said the Dhaka-bound Turna Nishitha train hit the Chittagong-bound Udayan Express at about 3am as the Udayan was about to go through Mondobhog station.
The Turna Nishitha train should have waited outside the station to let the other train pass, Khan said, adding that an investigation had been started.
A Bangladeshi railway official told reporters faulty signals could be to blame.
“Three coaches were badly mangled and the victims are from these coaches,” Khan said, adding that train services out of Dhaka had been halted because of the accident.
Train accidents are common in Bangladesh and are often caused by poor signaling or other rundown infrastructure.
From Jan. 1 to June 30, at least 202 rail accidents took place in the South Asian country of 168 million people, where some of the track is a century old, private media research group Shipping and Communication Reporters Forum said.
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