Rabiul Islam boarded a train for a job exam. He may lose an eye after a stone was hurled at the locomotive

Rabiul was on the Padma Express train to Dhaka when a stone hit his right eye

Twenty-three-year-old Rabiul Islam was headed from Natore’s Bagatipara to Dhaka aboard the Padma Express to sit for a job exam on Wednesday.

As the train left Tongi Station and approached the Turag Bridge, a stone thrown from outside hit him in his right eye, police say. With a scream, Rabiul fell unconscious.

When the train arrived at the Airport Station, Rabiul was taken to a doctor. When Rabiul told them that he couldn’t see anything out of his right eye, they sent him to the National Institute of Ophthalmology in Agargaon.

Police have filed a general diary at the Dhaka Railway Police Station, said Ferdous Ahmed Biswas, the acting officer on duty at the station.

Rabiul is in hospital.

SI Ali Akbar, the officer in charge of the Airport Outpost of the Railway Police, went to the scene to investigate the incident, but was not able to identify the perpetrator.

Someone threw the stone just as the train was about to get onto Turag Bridge around 10:30 pm, SI Akbar said, confirming the details of the incident.

Rabiul comes from a family of farmers, the rail police official said. He was coming to Dhaka to give a job exam with a friend.

Railway workers have lost lives due to stones and brickbats thrown at passing trains. The government has made efforts to raise awareness of the problem, but such incidents have continued.