15 Killed, 100 Others Injured After 2 Trains Collide In Bangladesh

At least 15 people were killed and several others injured on Monday when a passenger train collided with a freight train in Bangladesh, officials said. The accident took place when the passenger train headed from Kishoreganj to Dhaka collided with the freight train around 4:15 pm.

Thirteen bodies have been found so far, bdnews24 reported, citing a police official at the Bhairab Railway Station.

Several people were trapped under the damaged coaches, the news portal said.

"An initial report said that the freight train crashed into the Egaro Sindhur from behind, striking two of the carriages," said Anowar Hossain, superintendent of Dhaka Railway Police.

The accident happened when a passenger train collided with a freight train at Bhairab, about 80 kilometres (50 miles)from capital Dhaka.

The death toll could climb as rescue operations were ongoing, local police official Sirajul Islam said.

The crash in the eastern city of Bhairab saw a freight train smash into a passenger train travelling in the opposite direction, derailing two passenger carriages, officials said.

"We have recovered 15 bodies, many are injured," Sadiqur Rahman, a government administrator in Bhairab told AFP, which lies around 60 kilometres (38 miles) northeast of the capital Dhaka.

"The death toll will rise," Rahman said, with rescuers reporting they could still see bodies crushed and trapped under overturned coaches.

At least 100 people were injured, he added.

The accident, which took place at around 4:00 pm (1000 GMT), occurred when one train entered the same line as the other, Rahman said.

Train accidents are common in Bangladesh and are often caused by poor signalling, negligence, old tracks or other rundown infrastructure.

*With Agency Inputs