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Seven dead, 50 hurt in Bangladesh train crash-police

09 December 2010 04:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. At least seven people were killed and 50 were injured in a head-on train collision in Bangladesh Wednesday, police said, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
The Daily Star online edition and local television channel Desh reported the death tolls as 10 and 13 respectively. Both outlets said more than 100 people were injured.
The accident occurred at a railway station at Narsingdi, 55 km (35 miles) northeast of the capital Dhaka, when a passenger train slammed into another stationary passenger train. The impact derailed most of the carriages of the trains.
"We can so far confirm seven casualties, including three bodies stuck in a mangled carriage," Akkasuddin Bhuiyan, police superintendent of Narsingdi, told Reuters.
A reporter at the scene said he saw nearly 10 bodies and many others were injured, as three carriages of the stationary train were badly mangled. Rescue trains were sent to the scene to remove the wreckage.
A fire service official said the death toll may rise as more than 50 badly injured people had already been taken to local hospitals. Hundreds of people thronged the scene looking for their relatives traveling in the trains.
An army rescue team joined the operation, but a sudden, unseasonable downpour was hampering efforts to pull victims out of the wreckage. Rail services between Dhaka and the country’s main port, Chittagong, remained suspended after the accident.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her sympathy for the victims and Communication Minister Sayed Abul Hossian traveled to the scene.
Railway officials said an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the crash.
Bangladesh Railway runs 162 passenger and 34 goods trains daily in a network of some 3,000 km (1,875 miles).
But derailments and collisions occur frequently, killing more than 20 people across the country a year.