Bangladesh
Train Accident Train pilot's mistake kills gatekeeper in Dinajpur
Dhaka, December 22: A railway gatekeeper was killed in a train-truck collision at Phulbari in Dinajpur at around 1am on Monday following which railways were closed for about five hours after the accident. The body of gatekeeper Sushanto Kumar Das (32) was recovered from under the truck at around 7 am.
The deceased was identified as Sushanto, a resident of Ishwardi upazila in Pabna. Police have arrested truck driver Saidul Islam in the incident. Truck driver Saidul Islam is the son of Kafiluddin Mandal of Mahadevpur upazila in Naogaon.
Superintendent of Fulbari Railway Station Israfil Sarkar said a freight train from Birampur entered line 1 of Fulbari station at 1:04 pm. But a minute later, a train called MGBC tried to enter the same line without the permission of the station. The train was going to Dhaka with goods from Parbatipur.
A truck heading to Bogra from Thakurgaon hit the train at a place called Railghunti, 500 yards north of the station. There was heavy fog in the area at the time of the accident. The truck fell on the side of the road.
The body of gatekeeper Sushanto Kumar Das was found under the truck when the truck involved in the accident was removed by a crane at 7 am on Tuesday. The train was closed on the railway line after the accident. After the freight train was removed from the line at 6:10 am, the train movement became normal.
Israfil Sarkar further said that since the MGBC train was not allowed to enter the station, the gatekeeper did not lower the railgate signal. At that time no train was supposed to go through that rail gate. Initially, we thought that the accident happened because the train driver forgot.
