DHAKA: Two passenger trains collided at a busy station just outside the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring scores, local officials told AFP.
One train was stopped at the station when the second one ploughed into it from behind, leaving passenger carriages mangled and stacked on top of each other.
Television footage showed workers at the scene trying to rescue people from inside the coaches, as large crowds milled around the scene with some locals trying to drag victims from the wreckage. Staff at local hospitals confirmed four passengers had died and at least 60 were being treated for injuries.
“The engine car of the moving train rammed into the stationary train, this caused the two back carriages on the stationary train to fly up into the air and crash back down on top of the engine car,” Ruhul Amin Molla, head of the fire department in Narshingdi district, told AFP. “There are still people trapped inside.”
Molla said the complex emergency rescue operation was being hampered by the thousands of people who had gathered at the accident site.
Momena Khatun, Narshingdi deputy district chief, told AFP that victims with severe leg and head injuries were being treated at hospitals near the crash scene, 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of Dhaka.
“Both trains flew skywards. Firefighters and police are there cutting people out of the wreckage,” she said. “From the information I have now, it appears this was the result of a signal problem,” she added. “Most of the injured are very serious and they will need to be sent to Dhaka to get more treatment.”
