Railway authorities form two committees to probe Parabat Express fire

The Bangladesh Railway authorities have formed two separate committees to investigate the incident of fire at intercity train, Parabat Express, at Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibazar on Saturday, reports UNB.

“Each committee has four members and they have been asked to submit reports within three days after investigating the cause of fire and damages from it,” said Jahangir Hossain, General Manager of Bangladesh Railway East Zone.

He further said one of the committees is divisional and another is zonal. “The two committees will be led by Chief Commercial Manager of Bangladesh Railway East Zone and Chief Mechanical Engineer of Bangladesh Railway East Zone.”

The fire broke out at the power car or restaurant car of the moving train at around 12:45pm when it reached near Shamshernagar Air Base and disrupted the rail communication on Dhaka-Sylhet route on Saturday.

After more than three hours it was restored at 4:00pm as the inter-city train “Parabat Express” left for Sylhet.

At first the locals tried to douse the flames. Later, firefighting units of Kamalganj, Moulvibazar, Sreemangal and Kulaura rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze.

Abu Bakkar, sub-inspector at Shamshernagar Railway Station, said three compartments of the train were gutted during the fire.

Fortunately, no casualties were reported as the authorities concerned managed to stop the train in time.