Two devotees drowned, and over 200 others were injured in two separate accidents when people were heading home from Biswa Ijtema yesterday.

The two drowned while five others went missing when a trawler carrying devotees home from the Ijtema ground capsized in the Turag at Diabari near Mirpur.

Firemen recovered the bodies of Zayed, 14, and Jewel, 25, after the trawler capsized around 3:00pm.

Sanowar Hossain, an officer of the Mirpur fire station, said the Gabtoii-hound vessel carrying o^P^5 passengers capsized when another trawler hit it in the stern.

Witnesses said they saw a number of passengers swim ashore.

None of die missing passengers were found as of filing of this report at 1:30am today.

In another incident, over 200 people sustained injuries after panicked devotees jumped off a slow-moving train at Tongi in the afternoon following a false fire alarm.

Most of the passengers were travelling on the roof of the heavily crowded train.

Railway and police sources said fire sparks caused by the breaking down of pressure plates of a coach caused panic among passengers. The plates broke as the train was carrying passengers far beyond its capacity.

Almost all passengers were returning from the Biswa Ijtema congregation.

Sources said the Mohanagar Godhuli Express was on its way to Kamalapur Railway Station from Tongi station around 5:00pm.

Mahbubur Rahman, offi-cer-in-charge of Kamalapur Railway Police Station, told The Daily Star, "As the train neared Kosaibari between Tongi and Airport stations, sparks broke out and several hundred scared passengers jumped off the running train.

"Luckily, the train was running slowly and most of the passengers only sustained injuries," he said.

The injured were taken to different hospitals and clinics.