At least 16 dead after two packed trains are ripped apart in crash

Dozens of people are dead or badly injured after two busy trains crashed in an early-morning collision in Bangladesh. 

Dozens of people are dead or badly injured after two busy trains crashed in an early-morning collision in Bangladesh. 

Passengers described how the trains were ripped to shreds in the crash that claimed the lives of at least 16 people at 3am. Three coaches were sent crashing off the tracks at Mondobhag station in the town of Kasba when a Dhaka-bound train and a locomotive bound for Chittagong collided. 

An injured passenger said: “There was a loud noise, then I saw the train was completely ripped apart.” Another added: “All the people around me were crying. There was blood everywhere. Some people had broken hands and legs.”

Police chief Anisur Rahman said: “At least 16 people have been killed. And another 58 were injured. We have sent the injured to different hospitals in the region.” 

Cranes and other lifting gear were brought in to rescue trapped passengers, many of whom were asleep when the early morning crash took place. 

According to the Shipping and Communication Reporters Forum (SCRF), a private media research group, between January 1 and June 30 this year, at least 202 rail accidents took place in the South Asian country of 168 million people where some of the track is a century old. The SCRF said pedestrians using mobile phones while crossing tracks, negligence by railway employees and poor maintenance of lines and bridges were the main cause of crashes.