Shawdesh desk:

Four people, including a woman and her minor son, were killed as a train caught fire in Bangladesh capital Dhaka early Tuesday, the fire service said.

The incident happened minutes after 5:00am on the Mohanganj Express, which was arriving from Netrokana to Dhaka.

Two of the deceased are Nadira Akhter Poppy, 32, wife of Mizanur Rahman of Baruna village under Sadar upazila in Netrokona, and her three-year-old son Md Yasin. They used to live in Tejturibazar area in Dhaka.

Two other victims, both male, could not be known immediately, police said.

They said that the bodies were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for post mortem examination.

Tejgaon Police Station officer-in-charge Mohammad Mohsin, quoting the passengers, said that the passengers noticed fire in the compartments after leaving Airport rail station in Dhaka and began to cry.

The loco master then stopped the train at Tejgaon railway station, he said.

He said that the fire was completely doused at about 6:45am and four bodies – one woman, a minor boy and two males – were found from one of the three compartments that were damaged in the fire.

‘There is no news of anyone being injured,’ he said.

Rakib could not immediately confirm the reason behind the fire.

A text message sent to media by the fire service headquarters’ media cell termed the incident as ‘arson attack’.

The train was later sent to Kamlapur Railway Station where it was scheduled to reach, police and fire service officials said.

The incident happened about an hour before opposition parties began enforcing a dawn-to-dusk strike demanding the cancellation of the upcoming general election and the resignation of the government.