Portion Of Bardhaman Railway Station Building Collapses, 2 Rushed To Hospital

A portion of a building at the Bardhaman Railway Station collapsed on Saturday evening, injuring two persons, an Eastern Railway (ER) spokesman said. The victims were taken to the Bardhaman Medical College Hospital, the official said, adding, railway doctors were also rushed to the medical facility to provide assistance. The condition of one injured person was critical, said Additional SP (Bardhaman) D Roy.

There was minimal harm to passengers at the busy junction station as they moved away from the area after noticing that a portion of the building was crumbling. Nobody was trapped under the debris, ER spokesperson Nikhil Chakraborty said. "The portion of the two-storeyed station building at Bardhaman collapsed at 8.10 pm," he said.

Construction and repair work was underway at the century-old station building, nearly 100 km from Kolkata, another official said. A portion of the roof of the portico at the station building collapsed near the enquiry counter.

Train services were not affected by the incident that occurred in front of platform number 1 at the busy station on the Howrah-New Delhi route, Chakraborty said.

"Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel cordoned off the incident site," he said.

Another small portion of the same building also collapsed around 9.30 pm, but no one was injured as people moved away from the station premises after the initial accident, ER sources said.

A three-member committee has been formed by Eastern Railway to conduct an enquiry into the cause of the accident, Chakraborty said. Fire Brigade and civil defence personnel assisted in the rescue work, as senior railway officials rushed to the station following the collapse, he said.