4 schoolkids die as train rams pool car at open level crossing, gateman arrested

Behrampore: Four schoolchildren aged between seven and nine were killed when a passenger train rammed a pool car ferrying seven students at the Gobindapur railway gate near Karnasubarna station in Murshidabad on Friday morning. A 65-year-old cyclist, too, died on being knocked down by the train.Three other students and the driver of the pool car — a Tata Sumo — were hospitalised. Officials said the condition of the driver and one of the students was critical.Anup Karmakar, who was manning the gate at the level crossing on the Katwa-Azimganj section, has been arrested. Two track supervisors have been suspended.A preliminary probe corroborated statements by eyewitnesses that Karmakar had opened the level crossing gate after Nabadwip Dham Express passed through the Up line and a Nimtita-Katwa local was approaching through the Down line.