A Correspondent:
Cumilla: Seven passengers of a battery-run auto-rickshaw were killed as a train crashed the vehicle on an unauthorized level crossing at Kalikapur in Burichang upazila of Cumilla on Tuesday.
Six of deceased were identified as Rafique Mia, Lutfa Begum, Sanu Mia, Safarjan Begum and Saju Mia, all residents of Bakshimool village in Burichang upazila and Al Amin.
The identity of another victim was not known immediately.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Burichang Police Station Azizul Haque said the accident occurred when Dha-ka-bound Suborno Express train from Chattogram struck the auto-rickshaw as it attempted to cross the tracks around 10am.
Four passengers died on the spot, two succumbed to injuries en route to a hospital and another died while undergoing treatment there.
The auto-rickshaw got twisted and the train dragged it several hundred yards along the rail tracks, said witnesses.
The railway police have been informed and are overseeing the legal procedures regarding the accident, said OC Haque.
The accident once again shed a light on the danger posed by unmanned and unattended level crossings across Bangladesh.
Although accidents at unprotected level crossings are claiming lives frequently, no measure has yet been taken to make those safe.
According to data from of the Railways Ministry in 2022, among the 2,822 rail crossings of Bangladesh Railway (BR), 1,354 are illegal and 2,258 are without gatemen.
Among the legal rail crossings, 904 are unmanned.
BR data shows that almost 90 per cent of rail accidents happen at rail crossings. In the last one decade, a total of 936 accidents happened at the country’s rail crossings, which took away a staggering 516 lives.
