|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The collision of two trains in Jessore, Bangladesh, kills 76 people on this day in 1972. This disaster resulted from one simple error by a train-station operator.
An express train loaded far beyond capacity, as is common in Bangladesh, left the southern port city of Khulna heading north. It was passing through Jessore on June 4 at full speed when the stationmaster threw the wrong switch. With no other safeguards in place to protect it, the train was sent on local tracks straight into a train standing at the station.
The resulting pile-up killed and injured people on both trains, as well as people who were standing on the station platform. Nearly 500 people were seriously injured in addition to the 76 who lost their lives.