At least four dead in arson attack on Benapole Express in Dhaka before election

The attack comes on the eve of the BNP’s hartal before the election it has boycotted

Fire Service personnel search for survivors or bodies after an arson attack on Benapole Express at Gopibagh in Dhaka on Friday night, Jan 5, 2024. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

Arsonists have once again targeted a running train during its entry into Dhaka amid the BNP’s protests to disrupt the general election, killing at least four people.

Talha Bin Jasim, a spokesman for the Fire Service and Civil Defence confirmed the death toll to bdnews24.com after the fire at Benapole Express in the Gopibagh area of the capital on Friday night, the eve of the BNP’s hartal, or shutdown, before the election it has boycotted.

Bachchu Mia, an inspector at Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s police camp, said a 30-year-old man identified only as Asif was admitted to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery with 8 percent of his body burnt.

“We’re investigating if it’s an act of sabotage,” said Khandaker Al Moin, a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion, at the site.

The train was transporting passengers from the border town of Benapole in Jashore to the capital.

Many of the passengers were Indian nationals.

The fire in the train was spotted near the kitchen market at Gopibagh just as the train was nearing its destination, the Kamalapur Railway Station.

Anwar Hossain, an inspector of the fire service, said they sent eight units upon being informed about the fire at 9:05pm.

Mokhlesur Rahman, an operator at police’s Dhaka Divisional Control Room, said the fire was spotted in the ‘Cha’ coach when the train was crossing Sayedabad.

It then spread to the power car and two other coaches.

The flames continued to burn the coaches as it took time for the driver to grasp what had happened.

The panicked passengers also started to get off at that time.

Masud Rana, a witness, said he saw a person trying to get out through a window of a burning coach.

As locals tried to help him, the victim said his wife and child were burnt in the fire.

“I saw him burning alive!” Rana said.

TV and social media footage showed several coaches burning.

Around 300 vehicles have been torched in the protests by the BNP and its ally the Jamaat-e-Islami in the past two months.

At least five people died in arson attacks on trains and derailment because of damage cause to the railway tracks.

A woman, her 3-year-old son and two other people died in an arson attack on the Mohanganj Express train in Dhaka’s Tejgaon on Dec 19 morning.

Police said the arsonists got on the train as passengers.