Dhaka Train Fire Mystery (Why the Mohanganj Express Didnt Stop Sooner?)

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a tragic incident occurred on a train, the Mohanganj Express, where a fire broke out between the 7th and 8th carriages. Despite passengers noticing the fire after passing the airport station, the train continued to Tejgaon Station instead of stopping at earlier stations.

Mainuddin Manik, the 7th compartment attendant, attempted to extinguish the fire but was unsuccessful, leading to the fire spreading to adjacent compartments.

Anwar Hossain, a superintendent of Railway Police, expressed uncertainty about why the train didn’t stop immediately at Cantonment or Banani stations. He noted that a train cannot be halted abruptly, but the decision to continue traveling remains unexplained.

The incident resulted in injuries, with 53-year-old Nurul Haque aka Abdul Kader suffering a head injury.

The train, overseen by a guard or conductor and operated by a loco master and an assistant, has a system for attendants to stop it in emergencies. However, this protocol was not utilized.

Khaled Mosharraf, the train’s guard, stated he was uninformed about the fire until he noticed smoke and called the driver to stop the train. Loco master Dilip Kumar Mandal also mentioned being unaware of the fire until reaching Tejgaon station.

The lack of communication and action from the attendants in compartments 6, 7, and 8 is under scrutiny. AM Salah Uddin, a joint director general of Bangladesh Railway, is investigating the delay in stopping the train and determining if the guard or loco master could have intervened.

The fire is suspected to have been deliberately set by someone inside the train. Parbat Ali, the assistant station master of Tejgaon Railway Station, believes saboteurs boarded at the airport station and moved to another compartment after setting the fire, possibly disembarking at Tejgaon Station.

The CCTV system at the station could not provide footage due to lack of storage, hindering the investigation.