BNP calls for UN probe into train fire

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has demanded that the United Nations launch an international enquiry into a tragic train fire in Dhaka city on Friday night.

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Saturday termed the incident mysterious, calling for UN investigation to know what actually caused the fire.

An intercity train, Benapole Express, caught fire in the capital's Gopibagh area. The incident has so far  claimed four lives and injured several others.

Blaming the government for the train fire, Mr Rizvi said that the sabotage was part of the government's old political game.

He made the comments during a procession that paraded the Shahbagh-Banglamotor area in support of the BNP's 48-hour hartal that started on Saturday morning.

The nationalist party enforced the strike as part of its boycott of today's election and stoking up public support for its ongoing non-cooperation movement against the government.

Four bogies of the Benapole Express caught fire around 9:00 pm on Friday. Earlier on December 19, Mohonganj Express train was burnt in Tejgaon area. The incident claimed four lives, including a mother and her child and three compartments of the train were completely gutted in the fire.

[email protected]