A meritorious girl’s life cut short in in train accident

Chandpur, Nov 12 (UNB) – Tuesday was the last day for filling up form to take part in the upcoming Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination. So, Farzana Rahman was returning from Sreemangal of Moulvibazar on Monday night after attending the marriage ceremony of her maternal cousin.

However, the fatal train collision in Kasba of Brahmabaria district cut short the life of such a meritorious student.

At least 16 passengers were killed and over 100 others injured in a fatal collision between two trains on Dhaka-Chattogram route in Mandbagh Railway Station in Kasba upazila early Tuesday.

Farzana’s mother Bebi Begum, brother Hasan Bepari, maternal grandmother Firoza Begum, cousins Mitu, Ibli and Drubo, aunt Shahida were also wounded in the accident.

Her cousin Ayesha Akhter said Farzana along with her relatives went to Sreemangal on November 5 to attend the wedding ceremony of her maternal cousin. They met the accident on the way back home.

Farzana, daughter of expatriate Bilal Bepari in living in Kuwait, was going to appear at the next SSC examination from Bagadi Goni High School in Sadar upazila.

Her body was handed over to her relatives without postmortem following a request made by the family, said Md Nasir Uddin, officer-in-charge of Chandpur Model Police Station.

Hundreds of people, including her classmates, thronged and burst into tears when her body was taken to their residence in Balia union of Sadar upazila.

“She (Farzana) was a meritorious student and a good friend of us. She was scheduled to sit for the upcoming SSC exam under Science section. She was supposed to fill up the form on today. But it’s the irony of fate that left us forever on the same day,” one of her friends said.

Witnesses and railway sources said Turna Nishita started for Mandbhagh from Shashidal Railway Station around 2:48am. It was signalled to stop at the outer. At the same time, Udayan was approaching Mandbhagh from Kasba Railway Station and it was signalled to enter line-1.

However, Turna Nishita ignored the signal and continued to run on the main line. It crashed into the middle of Udayan while it was entering the line-1.

Six of the bogies of the Chattogram-bound train were on the main line when the collision took place.

Under the impact of the collision, three compartments of Udayan got completely twisted.