The Bangladesh Railway鈥檚 probe committee has put down a recent fire incident on a commuter train to smoking by unidentified passengers.
They boarded the train鈥檚 power car travelling on which is prohibited, railway officials said, adding that two staff members of the train were suspended in the incident.
In the morning on April 3, rail communications between Dhaka and Mymensingh halted for about two hours after a fire broke out in a commuter train in Sripur of Gazipur.
No casualties were reported in the incident. A committee was formed the same day to probe the fire.
Bangladesh Railway director general Md Afzal Hossain said that the probe report was submitted to the Dhaka divisional railway manager on Saturday.
The committee found evidence that indicated some passengers boarded the train鈥檚 power car, he continued, saying that travelling on a power car is prohibited.
鈥楽ome of these passengers might have smoked cigarettes from where the fire might have started,鈥� he said, adding that cigarette butts might have been thrown away in the power car without extinguishing the fire.聽
About the tickets of these passengers, the director general said that they were standing passengers and no passengers were found in the power car when the fire broke out.
The probe report estimated that the fire caused Tk 15.82 lakh damage to two engines inside the power car, he further said.
The power car would be sent to the Pahartoli railway workshop to undergo repairs, Afzal Hossain said.
He also mentioned that sometimes overheating of locomotives may start a fire in a power car which did not happen in this case.聽
On the possibility of sabotage he said, 鈥楾he committee did not find any element of sabotage in the incident.鈥�
In the case of sabotage the perpetrators would need to throw the source of fire from outside or use gunpowder into the power car, but in this case the fire broke out from inside the power car, the director general explained.
The power car operator and his assistant were suspended on charges of negligence as they were responsible for monitoring the car.
Their punishment would be decided based on their liability of negligence in the incident, the director general added.
Railway officials said that the train was operated under private management who also sold tickets for the train.
