Twenty-three passengers onboard a train in Bangladesh today went through a harrowing experience when their train travelled backwards for at least 26 kilometres without any driver or guard.
The train bound for Faridpur from Rajbarhi was waiting on platform with six carriages and 23 passengers on board when the engine accidentally shifted to auto gear and began moving backwards, Rajbarhi Station Master Kamruzzaman said.
“The driver got off the train to have a cup of tea, leaving the engine running. There were no guards on board either. The engine accidentally shifted to auto gear and began moving backwards toward Kushtia,” he said. “There was no incident of casualty. The train too remained undamaged,” a railway official at Rajbari told PTI over phone.
“The ticket collector Anwar Hossain managed to release the pipe of the vacuum break between the carriages and was able to halt the train near Babubazar Bridge,” Kamruzzaman said. Ticket checker of the train Anwar Hossain said that he thought the driver was backing up to load water for the train but soon understood it was running without any driver as he did not respond to his signal.