Train derailment leaves 1 dead in Bangladesh

DHAKA: One person was killed when seven compartments of a train were derailed on an overpass in Gazipur near the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka on Wednesday.

The crash which occurred around 4:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday left roughly eight people injured, Hanif Ali, chief of local Joydebpur Railway Station, told journalists.

“One person was killed on the spot when seven bogies of the train including the engine, went off the tracks,” he added.

The train derailment snapped the railway communications from the capital Dhaka to other parts of the country for hours.

The train has derailed after a section of the railway line in Gazipur was allegedly severed by saboteurs due to the ongoing opposition movement.

The opposition movement has reportedly led to vandalism of vehicles and arson attacks, with deadly clashes between police and workers in Dhaka and elsewhere in the South Asian country almost every day since late October.

Bangladesh’s main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies have called countrywide blockade of roads, rail lines, and waterways for 36 hours from Tuesday morning after the Election Commission’s announcement of the 12th parliamentary election schedule in the country.

It is the 11th round of blockade called by the BNP-led opposition parties since late October.

-Xinhua