1 killed, 5 injured in Dhaka train derailment

Train services had to be suspended in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon after a container train jumped the tracks at Banani.

One rickshaw-puller was killed and five others were injured when a container van broke loose and rammed into a nearby slum.

Of the two railway tracks, one was operational after the derailment but that has now been blocked by a rescue train that arrived on the spot.

“Trains did commute through one line after the accident. But now a rescue train from Kamalapur Railway Station arrived around 2:30pm. So train services to and from Dhaka have been suspended," Railway Inspector (Traffic) Humayun Kabir told bdnews24.com.

“It will take nearly three hours for rescue work to be completed. Dhaka railway links will remain snapped until then.”

Six people, including three children and a woman, were rescued from the debris. One of those rescued later died, police said.

Two carriage vans and one container van of the train went off the rails near Sainik Club in Banani in the morning.

The train had left the Kamalapur Railway Station for Chittagong at 11:35am, Humayun Kabir told bdnews24.com.

The cause of the derailment is not yet clear.

But railway officials say sabotage is unlikely and a technical snag could have caused the derailment

Railway Mate Abdul Ali told bdnews24.com at the spot that he suspected the ‘airbox’ had gone defunct causing wheels to be jammed. This, he said, could have led to the derailment.