At Tejgaon Railway Station in the capital, three carriages of the Mohanganj Express were set on fire by miscreants. As a result, the bodies of four people, including a mother and child, were recovered from one of the carriages.
This incident occurred early in the morning today. The information has been confirmed by the Fire Service media cell.
Shahjahan Sikder, a Fire Service media cell worker, informed Prothom Alo that the news of the fire was received at 5:04 am. Three units of the Tejgaon Fire Station reached the scene in 12 minutes and began firefighting operations. The fire was brought under control at 6:45 am.
Among the deceased, the identities of two have been confirmed. They are Nadira Akhter Popi (35) and her three-year-old son Yasin. Nadira’s husband is reportedly a hardware business owner in Karwan Bazar. At the time of the incident, Nadira, her brother, and another son were on the train. Although they managed to get off the train, Nadira could not.
A passenger named Bakul Akhter, also a relative of Nadira, stated that due to the fire, she hastily got off the train with her son Khokon and daughter Sharmin (2). She is unable to find her son now.
Assistant Station Master SM Parbat Ali of Tejgaon Railway Station said, “The train arrived at Tejgaon at 4:58 am. The train remained stationary for 6 hours and 25 minutes. The fire broke out on the way from Bimanbandar Station. The train did not stop here. However, the train was stopped using the ‘signal denjar’ due to the fire. The fire service and police were informed. The fire has engulfed the ‘C, J, and Z’ coaches. All three are AC coaches.” The train has been removed from Tejgaon Railway Station.
Additional Superintendent of Police Anwar Hossain of Dhaka Railway Police stated that rail workers first saw the fire in the middle of two carriages. Attempts were made to extinguish the fire using firefighting equipment, but it was not controlled. Instead, it spread to the adjacent coaches. There are suspicions of sabotage surrounding this incident.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Mohsin of Tejgaon Police Station informed the passengers by announcing through the microphone and stopping the train at Tejgaon Railway Station after crossing Bimanbandar Station.
It is noteworthy that before this incident, the Mohanganj Express train derailed on the Joydevpur-Mymensingh rail track near Bhawal Railway Station in Gazipur on the morning of December 13. As a result, Aslam Hossain (35) of Rowa village in Goforgaon Upazila of Mymensingh was killed. Several people, including the locomotive master and assistant locomotive masters, were injured.
