Train rams into three-wheeler killing eight on spot at Gazipur

Eight people going home after Eid have died on spot after the auto-rickshaw they were in was rammed by a train at Gazipur.

Three children are among the dead.

A DEMU train crashed into the vehicle when the driver was trying to drive it over the tracks through an ‘unsafe level-crossing’ at Hyderabad, police said.

“It happened around 3pm Thursday, south to Dhirasram Station.

“The auto-rickshaw was packed and its engine stopped on the rails,” said Joydebpur Police OC Rezaul Hasan Reza.

The DEMU train was headed from Dhaka to Gazipur.

The auto-rickshaw got stuck to the train and was dragged over the tracks for almost half a kilometre, witnesses said.

Majority of the dead passengers are relatives.

They are Shah Alam, 27, his wife Piyara Begum, 21, their son ‘Yasin’, 4, daughter ‘Sadia’, 6, Piyara’s young sister ‘Safura’, 12, and Shah Alam’s cousin Al Amin, 28 and neighbour Liton Miah, 22. 

The auto-rickshaw’s 20-year-old driver ‘Mostafa’ has also died.

The Fire Service picked up the bodies and took them to the morgue at Gazipur’s Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College and Hospital.

There was no stop sign at that crossing, Joydebpur Railway Junction Police Outpost ASI Dadan Miah said.

Shah Alam’s cousin Yusuf Ali lives at Boardbazar, near the accident site.

“Shah Alam spent Eid at his village home in Narsinghdi Sadar’s Jitrampur village. He was returning to his house at Boardbazar’s Khailpur area with his wife, daughters and cousins,” said ASI Dadan, quoting Yusuf Ali.

Gazipur Additional District Magistrate Mohammad Hossain has visited the site.