Ten dead after Bangladesh train strikes wedding party

Dhaka, Jul 15 (AFP) At least 10 people were killed in a northwestern Bangladesh town after a train hit a wedding party van at an unmanned crossing, officials said Monday. The Dhaka-bound train hit the van in Ullahpara, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) away from the capital, as 14 people were returning home from a wedding ceremony, local police chief Koushik Ahmed said.

As the van neared an unmanned railway crossing without noticing the rushing train approaching, the crash occurred leaving eight people including the bride and the groom dead on spot. "Another two (injured) died in the hospital and the rest were injured," he told AFP.

Fatal railway accidents are common in the South Asian country where some 40 percent of the approximately 2,500 rail crossings are unmanned. According to police, nearly 6,000 people died in railway accidents on the country's 2,800-kilometres (1,730-mile) rail network in the last six and a half years.