Three Die As Water Tank Falls at Burdwan Station

Kolkata: Three train passengers including a woman died while 27 others were injured on Wednesday when a portion of an overhead water tank collapsed and fell on them at Burdwan railway station in Burdwan East of West Bengal.

The accident occurred at around 12.10 pm. Platform no 2 and 3 of the British-era junction station under the Howrah division of the Eastern Railway (ER) were full of passengers. Suddenly the water tank’s side wall above the two adjoining platforms got dislodged.

The concrete chunk fell on the two platforms’ iron shed which came crashing down on the waiting passengers leaving 30 of them injured. The injured were rescued by the railway protection force personnel and were rushed to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

Three of them succumbed to injuries later, said superintendent of police (Burdwan East) Amandeep. ER spokesperson Kaushik Mitra said that train movement was suspended immediately through line 1, 2 and 3 as a safety measure. Divisional Railway Manager (Howrah) rushed to the site.

Mr Mitra added that line no. 1 of the station was given fit for train movement at 12.55 pm. Train services were operational via platform no. 1 and 4. This is however not the first mishap at the station. On January 4 in 2020, two persons were injured when a big part of the station’s entrance beside platform no 1 fell from the top.