CHITTAGONG, June 21: Railway Secretary Firoz Salahuddin accompanied by Director General of Bangladesh Railway Amzad Hussain visited the site of accident at Boalkhali in Chittagong on Sunday.Meanwhile, a committee was also formed to investigate into the oil spill consequence. While talking to the journalists, Firoz said that the movement of train on Ctg-Dohazari line would resume within seven days. He said that the damaged bridge would be repaired first and then the fallen wagons would be salvaged.
Hence, he said, it will take time to salvage the derailed wagons.
Meanwhile, the furnace oil of the wagons were still spilling out and spreading across the Karnaphuli river, thereby polluting the environment badly. Following the accident, train movement remained suspended on the Ctg-Dohazari line.
It may be mentioned that two wagons of a train, full of furnace oil, fell off a bridge that caved in at Boalkhali on Friday. The furnace oil was headed for the 100-megawatt peaking power plant at Dohazari from Chittagong.
Each of the eight tank cars can hold up to 33,640 litres. Two of the tank-wagons sank in the Boalkhali canal. A third was partially submerged while a fourth one tilted sideways.
When contacted, Moqbul Hussain, Director of DOE, Chittagong told The Daily Observer, "We are collecting spilled over oil from the canal by natural method.?
He claimed that more than 10 per cent of the spilled oil has been procured from the affected areas.
Moqbul also said that spilled oil would not affect biodiversity in the river karnaphuli. He said, they have found dissolved Oxygen (DO) in the canal water less than 1.5 per cent of the normal range of 6.6 when tested it.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests on Sunday formed a coordination committee, headed by divisional commissioner of Chittagong, to address the recent oil spill of Boalkhali, aiming to minimise its aftermath. The committee was formed at a high-level meeting held in the ministry with Environment Minister Anwar Hossain Manju in the chair.
Heads of the departments concerned have been included in the coordination committee.