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Published : 20 Jun 2015, 01:45 PM
Two wagons of a train, full of oil, fell off a bridge that caved in at Boalkhali on Friday.
They could not be pulled out until Saturday noon.
Railways officials have said it would take the entire day to pull out the cars.
The furnace oil in the cars spread to the Karnaphuli, as the canal is affected by tides.
An official of the Department of Environment (DoE) visited the area on Saturday.
He said the spread of oil will impact the Karnaphuli badly.
The furnace oil was headed for the 100-megawatt peaking power plant at Dohazari from Chittagong.
Each of the eight tank cars can hold up to 33,640 litres.
Two of the tank-wagons sank in the Boalkhali canal. A third was partially submerged while a fourth one tilted sideways.
The mishap occurred on the bridge 24 between Gomdandi and Dhalghat. Railway officials say the bridge was identified as ‘risky’ nine years ago.
Dhalghat Station Master Anupam Dey told bdnews24.com on Saturday morning that a relief train took away five wagons.
People from the power plant will remove the oil from the tankers first and then the wagons will be pulled out, he said.
Bangladesh Railways General Manager (East) Mozammel Haque said the authorities would start repairing the bridge after the wagons are pulled out.
The repair would take four days, he said.
The rail link between Chittagong and Dohazari has snapped due to the accident. The line is used by only one train every day.
Karnaphuli's oil woes
DoE Director (Chittagong) Md Moqbul Hossain visited the spot in the morning.
He said the oil spilled largely due to tides.
“I saw oil in the adjacent area, even on the tree trunks,” he said.
He also said the DoE’s Chittagong office does not have any instrument to collect spilt oil.
The Boalkhali canal, nine kilometres away from the Karnaphuli, is linked to the river.
Chittagong Hazi Mohammad Mohsin College’s chemistry department Associate Professor Idris Ali said the density of the oil would decrease slowly.
“Oxygen dissolved in water will also decrease over time," he said.
Ali also said the fertility of the soil affected by the oil spill will go down.
“It will have a widespread impact on the nature,” he said.
“This is another sore point for Karnaphuli,” he added.
Mentioning another similar accident in the same area that took place two years ago, he said the railways should be more careful.
