Metro rail services in Dhaka city were closed for around 20 minutes after a cat fell onto the Shahbagh metro station’s high-voltage tracks at noon on Saturday.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited deputy project director (public relations) Md Ahsan Ullah Sharifi said that the cat was found on the tracks at 11:50am on the day.

‘The metro rail services were halted immediately to avoid any accidents and the standstill situation continued till 12:12pm’, he said.

Ahsan said that after the cat was removed, metro services resumed at about 12:12pm.

While there are usually instances of trains stopping due to technical faults or signal problems, this is the first time an entire network has been stopped due to the presence of an animal, he also added.

The officer added that the cat was in sound condition after it was recovered.