Two days were left for his retirement when loco-pilot Gangeswar Mal died in a train accident. On Tuesday, two goods trains clashed near the Barhat Station in Sahibganj district of Jharkhand.

Mal (65), who was a resident of Bhatapara in the Jiaganj-Azimganj municipality of Murshidabad in West Bengal, and his assistant Ambuz Mahato (35), a resident of Tildanga in the same state, both died. Six others were seriously injured.

According to Mal’s family, he was a loco-pilot of Indian Railways who had then joined the NTPC. On April 3, he would have turned 65 and his service to NTPC would have been completed.

The NTPC Lalmatia MGR line, where the accident occurred, connects NTPC’s Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power Station in Bihar to the Farakka Power Plant in Bengal.

His daughter, Maina Let, said, “My brother first heard this news and he called me that our father probably went through a severe accident at Sahibganj. When I got there, I heard that my father is no more.”

Prasenjit Ghosh, Chairman of the Jiaganj-Azimganj municipality said, “He is a very good man and always did good work for the area. He was a sports lover and he insisted that in Jiaganj, there should be a swimming pool for the children. The municipality planned that and we were going to give all responsibility to him to build the swimming pool. We can’t believe that Gangeswar da is no more.”

Eastern Railway spokesperson Kausik Mitra clarified that the incident involved NTPC’s infrastructure. “The goods trains and the tracks belong to the NTPC. It has nothing to do with the Indian Railways,” he said.