Patna, July 22: At least two persons died and seven others suffered serious injuries when a girder from an underconstruction railway overbridge collapsed on the track below at Sasaram in Rohtas district, around 135km southwest of Patna, on Saturday morning.

The injured were rushed to Sasaram Sadar hospital, where the condition of two was stated to be critical.

The movement of trains on the Grand Chord section of the Howrah-Delhi route remained disrupted till this evening.

Around 10am, an iron girder from the underconstruction bridge collapsed, crushing two labourers to death while seven others received multiple injuries. The site of occurrence is hardly 100m from Sasaram railway station.

The deceased were identified as Saidul Islam (25) and Lalsan Mandal (20), both residents of Assam, while the injured were identified as Jumer Mandal, Rakibul, Julas Sunar, Tasir Mandal and Amir Sheikh. The injured have been admitted to a local government hospital.

Rohtas acting superintendent of police Parvez Akhtar said the deceased and the injured were working as labourers on the project.

Among the seven injured, six hailed from Khundabari village in Barpeta district of Assam.

Sasaram station superintendent Umesh Kumar said Rakibul had been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital after his condition deteriorated at Sasaram Sadar hospital.

He said an investigation had been launched to ascertain the cause of the incident.

The station superintendent admitted that traffic on the Mughalsarai-Gaya section of East Central Railway was paralysed since 10am. Several trains such as 2988 Down Ajmer-Sealdah Express, 2802 Down New Delhi Purushottam Express and 3250 Down Bhabhua-Patna Express were stopped at different railway stations.

Sources said heavy rain over the past two days had caused the incident. "An investigation has already been ordered into the incident," said the station superintendent over phone.

Agitated over the death of the labourers, a group of residents blocked the road and paralysed traffic near Sasaram and demanded adequate compensation to the next of kin of the deceased. They also demanded action against officials of the company that had been assigned the construction work.

"Work is going on at a snail's pace. Contractors are pilfering crores of rupees. The project is incomplete even after five years," said a resident Baidnath Singh, who runs a paan shop near the railway station. "Only an investigation would reveal as to what caused the collapse," the sources said.