At least five people were killed and four more were injured as a microbus fell into a rail trackside pond after it was hit by a passenger train in the Munshibazar area under the sadar upazila in Faridpur on Tuesday.
The microbus was crossing the track while there was no authorised level crossing.
All victims but one injured in the accident were travelling in the microbus.
The deceased are Atifa Rahman, 36, wife of Abu Sayeed Bhuiyan from Bhuiyapara area under Narayanganj sadar, Umme Tazsuma,
30, wife of Alamgir Hossain from Sonarkanda area under port thana in Narayanganj, Sayem, 40 son of Masum Sharif Bhuiyan from Bhuiyapara, Rani Sharif Bhuiyan, 67, and Sadia Zahir, 45, wife of Hamid Zahir.
Faridpur deputy commissioner Mohammad Kamrul Hasan Molla confirmed the number of causalities.
Fire Service and Civil Defence Faridpur office senior station officer Md Nazrul Islam said that the incident took place at about 12:15pm when the Madhumati Express on the Rajshahi-Dhaka route hit the microbus in the Gerda area on the Rajbari-Bhanga rail section.
Locals said that the microbus was going to Munshibazar from Narayanganj.
The train dragged away the microbus for several metres and then the microbus fell into a trackside pond in a mangled condition, Nazrul Islam said.
Confirming that inside the microbus there were a total of seven passengers and a driver, he also said that a person standing beside the track was also sustained injuries.
Three inside the microbus died on the spot, he said, adding, 鈥楾he other two died at hospital.鈥�
He also said that two units of the fire services carried on the rescue operation for around an hour and recovered the microbus from the pond.
Faridpur Sadar police officer-in-charge MA Jalil told 抖阴精品 that the injured were at first sent to Faridpur Medical College Hospital.
Later, they were referred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for advanced treatment, he added.
Among the injured the microbus driver, Nazmul, 33, from Khulna was also undergoing treatment.聽
Faridpur deputy commissioner Kamrul Hasan Molla said that there was not any authorised level crossing at the point the microbus wanted to cross the track.聽
He said that they had already contacted the victims鈥� families to provide any support if they required.
Till 8:00pm no case was filed in this regard, said Faridpur Sadar police sub-inspector Asaduzzaman.聽
Most recently seven people were killed as a train hit a battery-powered auto-rickshaw on a level crossing in the Kalikapur area under Burichang upazila in Cumilla on November 26.
According to the Bangladesh Railway, till July 2022 there were a total of 2,789 level crossings 鈥� 1,468 authorised and 1,321 unauthorised 鈥� across the country.
According to a recent report of the Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh, out of the total road crashes 0.73 per cent caused by collision between trains and other road transports.