Metro rail pillar’s bearing pad falls in front of tea stall

The bearing pad of a metro rail pillar fell in front of a tea stall on the footpath in the capital’s Farmgate area today, Sunday, damaging the stall.

The tea stall owner and another person were injured in the incident, while a pedestrian was killed. The injured have been taken to hospital.

One of the injured, Amir Ali, runs a tea stall on the footpath near the metro station in Farmgate. He is now undergoing treatment at Ibn Sina Hospital in Kalyanpur.

This correspondent spoke to Amir Ali’s brother Md Ashik at the spot. He told Prothom Alo that the bearing pad came loose and fell in front of his brother’s stall on the footpath which was damaged in the impact. His brother sustained injuries.

A mobile number for Amir Ali was obtained from Ashik and called. Amir answered, saying the physicians were attending to him, so he could not speak at the moment.

The identity of the other injured person could not be confirmed immediately. Speaking to people at the scene, it was learned that the injured individual was taken to Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka.

Earlier, Tejgaon police station’s officer-in-charge (OC) Mobarak Hossain said that a pedestrian was killed on the spot after the bearing pad came loose.

Sources at Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) said that due to the incident, metro rail services were suspended along the entire route from Uttara to Motijheel at around 12:30 pm today. It is not yet clear when services will resume.

Earlier, in September last year, a metro rail pillar’s bearing pad also came loose and fell in the Farmgate area.