Dhaka: India’s emergency railway service for liquid oxygen Oxygen Express reached Bangladesh’s Sirajganj with 10 containers filled with liquid medical oxygen through Benapole land port on July 25 morning.

The move follows India’s effort to assist Bangladesh with tackling the worsening coronavirus situation.

This oxygen consignment marks a milestone as it is the first delivery by New Delhi to any neighboring country in history. The ten containers together are filled with 200 tons of liquid oxygen.

Till now, 480 such Oxygen Expresses were operationalized within India, said the Indian Press Information Bureau through the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

Azizur Rahman, Commissioner of Benapole Customs House, said, “Oxygen is being imported by the railway for the first time through the land port… Customs related works of the imported oxygen have been finished giving maximum priorities on corona treatment.”

The 200 tons of oxygen sent by India will be carried to Dhaka through lorries once unloaded at Sirajganj, the country’s western railway station.

The Oxygen Express train with 10 containers left Jamshedpur Tatanagar under India’s Jharkhand province for Bangladesh on July 24 morning. It entered Bangladesh through the land port on July 24 night, said the Indian Press Information Bureau.

This oxygen is for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. Hence, it will be supplied to the hospitals, said officials of the health directorate.

In several states across India, this Oxygen Express, launched by the Indian railway services to meet the oxygen crisis, as of yet supplied 36,841 tons of liquid oxygen to different hospitals.