Burdwan: A 30-year-old woman and her 11-year-old daughter were killed on Friday morning after being struck by a train while crossing railway tracks at Khana Junction on the Burdwan-Asansol route.The victims, identified as Puja Das (30) and her daughter Pallabi (11), a Class V student, were residents of Krishnabati village in East Burdwan’s Mangalkot block.According to family and police sources, Puja had travelled to her parental home in Daspara, near Khana village under Galsi police station limits, on Wednesday to celebrate Bhaiphonta with her brother, Bikash Das. Around 7 am on Friday, she left with her daughter to return to her in-laws’ residence in Mangalkot, assuring her mother that she did not need to accompany them to the station.The two reached Khana Junction to catch a train towards Burdwan railway station, from where they intended to take a connecting train to Mangalkot. Eyewitnesses said that while crossing tracks to reach the opposite platform, they failed to notice the signal or the approaching train. At that moment, Down Asansol-Sealdah Intercity Express entered the station at high speed and ran them over, killing both on the spot.Around 7.45 am, acquaintances living near the station informed Puja’s family of the tragedy. Govt Railway Police (GRP) personnel from Burdwan station arrived at the spot and recovered the bodies, which were later identified by Puja’s father, Bapi Das, and other relatives. The bodies have been sent to the police morgue at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.
