Mymensingh, July 11 (bdnews24.com)— A family of nine was crushed to death after they stood in the path of a moving train in Kashore area of Mymensingh district Wednesday, police said.
Neither police nor locals could identify the dead.
Locals said they were members of an isolated family who lived in a house near the rail line. Neighbours knew little about them.
However, witnesses said the deceased might have belonged to a middle-class family.
Faruque Hasan, a resident of the area, said the eldest son of the family was named Arif and father Anwar Dervish had died some years ago.
He said Anwar Dervish had been uncommunicative with his neighbours and had isolated his family from the community.
Local ward commissioner Mozammel Haque Yusuf said the family did not have any relations with their neighbours. "They did not visit neighbours' homes. They had no argument with them either."
Police could not give a satisfactory answer to the question why all members of the family had placed themselves in the path of a train to die.
Police said they found a dugout grave in the yard of the deceased's home and that they had recovered some diaries that contained pessimistic remarks on different religions.
One diary reads: "Our family is the only independent and self-reliant family in the world. We do not belong to any religion. Then who are we? We are Adam."
No relatives or friends of the family could be located for comment.
Police and witnesses said the family came out of their home at about 3:10pm Wednesday afternoon and ran to the train that was running in from Jamalpur for Mymensingh
Enayet Hossain Khan, an assistant to the train driver, said the dead were hand in hand when they went to their death.
A senior official of the railway department said train driver Abdul Matin fainted with shock at the incident.
Hundreds of people thronged to the scene. Many entered the house adjacent to the railway to find it empty. They also found food that had been cooked and left. The home was spick and span.
Locals said the family might originally have been Christian but there was no proof to their claim.
Mymensingh deputy commissioner Shamsul Alam and district police chief Rafiqul Islam visited the scene and termed the incident "very pathetic".
Railway police is yet to file a case for unnatural death.
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