death
Trading suspended in Ctg's Khatunganj wholesale market over worker's death
Trading at the popular Khatunganj wholesale market in Chattogram port city has been suspended since Wednesday morning, with workers embarking on a strike in the wake of the death of a worker in an attack by a driver.
Zahidul Kabir, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, said Masud, 29, the worker of the wholesale market, had a heated argument with the pick-up van driver while loading goods in the Chanmia Lane of the market over a small matter on October 17.
The argument turned violent when the van driver suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed Masud, leaving him injured. He was rushed to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).
Soon after the attack, hundreds of workers at the wholesale market halted loading and unloading of goods on that day. They also blocked roads by placing carts.
Read: Traders reeling as rotten imported onions dumped in Khatunganj
The aggrieved workers went on an indefinite strike after Masud succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday morning at CMCH, two days after the attack.
Additional police personnel have been deployed at the wholesale market to avert further trouble.“Earlier, a complaint was lodged with the Kotwali Police, and now a process is on to convert the same into a murder case,” said the OC.
PM condoles death of actor Masum Aziz
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday expressed deep shock and sorrow at the death of Ekushey Padak winning actor and screenplay writer Masum Aziz.
In a condolence message, the prime minister said the talented actor will be remembered for his work.
She prayed for the eternal salvation of the departed soul and expressed sympathy to the bereaved family.
Masum Aziz died on Monday afternoon at a private hospital in the capital where he was under treatment for heart-related ailment.
He was admitted to the hospital with cardiac problem on October 3 and was put on life support as his condition deteriorated on Thursday morning.
Read: PM condoles death of Enamul Haque
His body will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar on Tuesday morning for the public to pay tributes.
His body will later be taken to his ancestral home in Pabna where he will be buried at his family graveyard.
The actor was awarded the country's second highest civilian award, the Ekushey Padak, this year for his remarkable contribution in acting.
Karnaphuli trawler capsize: 2 more bodies recovered
The death toll from the trawler capsize in the Karnaphuli river of Chattogram rose to seven with the recovery of two more bodies on Saturday.
The deceased were identified as Abdul Motaleb, 60, and Pradeep Chowdhury, 55, from Dakkhin Char Aisha village of Bhola’s Charfession upazila.
Fire service members recovered the bodies from the river in Patenga area in the morning, said Abdul Malek, Assistant Director of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defense.
“After four days of relentless efforts, we’ve declared our rescue operation completed as all the seven bodies have been recovered,” he added.
Read: Karnaphuli trawler capsize: Death toll rises to 5
On Tuesday, seven people went missing as ‘MV Magferat’, sank in the river around 1:30 am while trying to dock for maintenance near Ichhanagar village of the Karnaphuli upazila.
Nine people, including the chief engineer, managed to swim ashore.
In a joint operation, River Police, Bangladesh Coast Guard and Fire Service members recovered five bodies till Friday.
Couple dies from smoke inhalation in Gulshan house fire
An elderly couple died from smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at their house in Dhaka's Gulshan early Thursday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Md Obaidul Hoque, 72, and his wife Jahanara Begum, 68.
The fire broke out in their flat on the fifth floor of the building when the couple was asleep and was doused immediately, Md Kaijul, sub-inspector (SI) of Gulshan police station, said.
Read: Fire at Gulshan high-rise brought under control
The couple was rushed to United Hospital with smoke inhalation and died while undergoing treatment there.
"Obaidul and Jahanara had no burns on their bodies. They fell ill due to suffocation. The bodies were kept at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsies," the SI said.
Samarjit Roy's body completes final journey to Sabujbagh Kalibari Crematory
The body of eminent artist Samarjit Roy Chowdhury, who breathed his last at Lab Aid Hospital in Dhaka yesterday, has been taken to the Kalibari crematory in Sabujbagh after being kept at the central Shahid Minar till 12.45pm for legions of admirers to pay their last respects.
Earlier around 11.30am, Roy's dead body was brought to the central Shahid Minar, where many prominent artists and cultural personalities came to catch their last glimpse of the Ekushey Padak-winning artist.
Actor and playwright Ramenda Majumder, artists Hashem Khan, Golam Mostafa, Kamal Pasha Chowdhury, presidents and general secretaries of many cultural organisations, DU Chhatra League general secretary Saddam Hussein, among many others, turned up to pay tribute to him at central Shahid Minar.
Surjit Roy Chowdhury, son of Samarjit Roy Chowdhury, said, "He was not only a teacher but also a father. My father was my friend. My father was the solution to my every problem. My father even prayed for me for the last time with his last breaths."
Prior to the Shahid Minar, Roy's body was also taken to his workplace of nearly six decades, the Fine Arts faculty or Charukola of Dhaka University, for colleagues, students and friends to pay their tributes around 10am.
Read: Eminent painter Samarjit Roy Chowdhury passes away
Students, teachers and dean of Fine Arts faculty, DU vice Chancellor prof. Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman along with other administrative bodies of the University, and Deputy Minister of Cultural Affairs KM Khalid went there to pay their tributes to Prof. Samarjit Roy.
DU Vice Chancellor Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman said, "With the death of Prof. Samarjit Roy, the nation lost a prominent artist. He was one of the greatest and most famous artists of the country."
Prof. Nisar Hossain, dean of the Fine Arts faculty, said, "Prof. Samarjit Roy spent his full life in this faculty as we were able to get him as honorary professor after his retirement from the faculty. His death is a great loss for the nation but the Fine Arts faculty has lost an irreplaceable resource through his death."
Samarjit Roy Chowdhury earned his graphic design degree from the then-Government Art Institute of Dhaka University in 1960 and then started his career as a faculty member.
He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 2014 for his outstanding contributions to the arts.
Eminent painter Samarjit Roy Chowdhury passes away
Samarjit Roy Chowdhury, one of the most prominent Bangladeshi artists and art educators, passed away at 2:40 pm in a city hospital on Sunday. The Ekushey Padak-winning painter (85) was suffering from multiple health issues, according to his family.Confirming the matter, Dhaka University fine arts faculty dean Nisar Hossain told the media that the revered artist was admitted to the hospital with heart complications and later suffered from pneumonia.According to Chowdhury’s son Surojit Roy Chowdhury, the art maestro was admitted to Labaid Hospital in the capital on September 5. After a week of treatment, the family took him home on September 12; however, he was readmitted to the hospital on September 15 due to complications.News of his departure created a shadow of grief among the artist community in the country.The artist's body will be placed at DU's fine arts faculty on Monday at 10 am, where his admirers can pay their respects.
Read: Eminent painter Syed Jahangir’s second death anniversary on Tuesday
Born in 1937 in Cumilla, Chowdhury graduated in Graphic Design from the Government Art Institute (presently Faculty of Fine Art, Dhaka University) in 1960. He received direct tutelage from legendary art maestros of the nation including Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, Quamrul Hassan, Anwarul Huq, Mohammed Kibria and Safiuddin AhmedHe joined the Dhaka University Faculty of Fine Art in 1960 and served there for 43 years before retiring as a Professor in 2003. He also taught there as a supernumerary professor since 2014.Up until 2010, he also served as the dean for the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology.In 2014, he received the Ekushey Padak, the second-highest civilian award in Bangladesh, for his meaningful contribution to the country’s art sphere.
Man stabs mother-in-law to death in Faridpur
A 55-year-old woman was stabbed to death allegedly by her son-in-law in Sabar village of Faridpur district early on Saturday.
The deceased was identified as Rahima Begum of the village.
Habil Hossain, officer-in-charge of Nagarkanda Police Station, said that Rahima stepped out of her house to answer the call of nature around 1am. "It was then that Yunus Molla, her son-in-law, stabbed her with a knife, leaving her critically injured."
Later, she was taken to a local hospital where doctors declared Rahima dead on arrival.
Read: Man stabbed dead ‘by wife’ in Kushtia
The motive behind the killing is yet to be ascertained, the OC said. "Efforts are on to nab the accused, who is on the run."
“The body has been kept at the morgue of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College and Hospital," he added.
Truck crushes three twelfth-graders of same institution to death on Benapole-Jashore highway
Three twelfth-graders of the same educational institution were killed after a truck mowed them down on their motorcycle on the Benapole-Jashore highway Friday night, police said.
The accident claimed the lives of Asif, Arman, and Salman – all twelfth-grade students at Jashore Sadar upazila's Natunhat Public College.
Read: 2 killed in city accident
The crash occurred at 9:15pm in the Natunhat Gazir Dorga as the truck ran over the twelfth-graders after hitting their motorcycle.
"Asif and Armaan died on the spot. Salman succumbed to his injuries at Jashore General Hospital," Navaran Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mizanur Rahman said.
"Legal action will be taken in connection with the accident," he added.
Why many still die crossing the Mediterranean
The back-to-back shipwrecks of migrant smuggling boats off Greece has once again put the spotlight on the dangers of the Mediterranean migration route, the risks migrants and refugees are willing to take and the political infighting that has thwarted a safe European response to people fleeing war, poverty and climate change.
Here’s a look at the migration situation across the Mediterranean Sea:
WHAT HAPPENED TO TWO SMUGGLERS’ BOATS OFF GREECE?
Bodies floated amid splintered wreckage off a Greek island on Thursday as the death toll from separate sinkings of two migrant boats rose to 22, with about a dozen still missing. The vessels went down hundreds of miles apart, in one case prompting a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefighters pulled shipwrecked migrants to safety up steep cliffs.
The Greek shipwrecks came just days after Italy commemorated the ninth anniversary of one of the deadliest Mediterranean shipwrecks in recent memory, the Oct. 3, 2013 capsizing of a migrant ship off Lampedusa, Sicily, in which 368 people died.
WHAT ARE THE TRENDS IN MEDITERRANEAN MIGRANT ARRIVALS?
So far this year, the International Organization of Migration has recorded around 109,000 “irregular” arrivals to the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Malta by land or sea. This has made immigration a hot political topic in those European Union nations.
U.N. refugee officials note that overall numbers of migrants seeking to come to Europe this way has decreased over the years, to an average of around 120,000 annually. They call that a relatively
“manageable” number, especially compared to the 7.4 million Ukrainians who have fled their homeland this year to escape Russia’s invasion, and were welcomed by European countries.
“We’ve seen how quickly and how rapidly a response was mounted to deal with that situation in a very humane and commendable way,” said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva. “If we can see that happen very concretely in this situation, why can’t it be applied for 120,000 people that are coming across to Europe on a yearly basis?”
Others see Europe’s harsh response to Mediterranean migrants, who often come from Africa, and its welcoming of Slavic Ukrainian migrants as racist.
HOW DANGEROUS IS THE MEDITERRANEAN?
Read: 13 Bangladeshis rescued in Mediterranean return home
So far this year the IOM has reported 1,522 dead or missing migrants in the Mediterranean. Overall, the IOM says 24,871 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014, with the real number believed to be even higher given the number of shipwrecks that never get reported.
“The voyage toward Italy has been confirmed to be the most dangerous,” said the ISMU foundation in Italy, which conducts research on migration trends.
The Central Mediterranean migration route that takes migrants from Libya or Tunisia north to Europe is the deadliest known migration route in the world, accounting for more than half of the reported deaths in the Mediterranean that IOM has tracked since 2014. The route has Italy as its prime destination.
WHAT ARE THE DEADLIEST KNOWN SMUGGLING SHIPWRECKS?
On April 18, 2015, the Mediterranean’s deadliest known shipwreck in living memory occurred when an overcrowded fishing boat collided 77 nautical miles off Libya with a freighter that was trying to come to its rescue. Only 28 people survived. At first it was feared the hull held the remains of 700 people. Forensic experts who set out to try to identify all the dead concluded in 2018 that there were originally 1,100 people on board.
On Oct. 3, 2013, a trawler packed with more than 500 people, many from Eritrea and Ethiopia, caught fire and capsized within sight of an uninhabited islet off Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa. Local fishermen rushed to try to help save lives. In the end, 155 survived and 368 people died.
One week later, a shipwreck occurred on Oct 11, 2013, further out at sea, 60 miles south of Lampedusa in what has become known in Italy as the “slaughter of children.” In all, more than 260 people died, among them 60 children. The Italian newsweekly L’Espresso in 2017 published the audio recordings of the migrants’ desperate calls for help and Italian and Maltese authorities seemingly delaying the rescue.
WHAT ARE OTHER MEDITERRANEAN MIGRATION ROUTES TO EUROPE?
The Western Mediterranean route is used by migrants seeking to reach Spain from Morocco or Algeria. The Eastern Mediterranean route, where the shipwrecks occurred this week off Greece, has traditionally been used by Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other non-African migrants who flee first to Turkey and then try to reach Greece or other European destinations.
Read: 49 Bangladeshi migrants rescued from Mediterranean
Greece was a key transit point for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees entering the EU in 2015-16, many fleeing wars in Iraq and Syria, though the numbers dropped sharply after the EU and Turkey reached a deal in 2016 to limit smugglers. Greece has since toughened its borders and built a steel wall along its land border with Turkey. Greece has also been accused by Turkey and some migration experts of pushing back migrants, a charge it denies.
For its part, Greece says Turkey has failed to stop smugglers active on its shoreline and has been using migrants to apply political pressure to the whole European Union.
HOW HAS MIGRATION DIVIDED THE EU’S 27 NATIONS?
Mediterranean countries have for years complained that they have been left to bear the brunt of welcoming and processing migrants, and have long demanded other European countries step up and take them in.
Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European nations refused an EU plan to share the burdens of carrying for the migrants.
Human rights groups have condemned how the EU in recent years has outsourced migrant rescues to the Libyan coast guard, which brings the migrants back to horrific camps on land where many are beaten, raped and abused.
“Over the years, the routes have changed but not the tragedies,” said the Sant’Egidio Community as it commemorated the 2013 Lampedusa anniversary this week. Working with other Christian groups, the Catholic charity has brought more than 5,000 refugees to Italy via “humanitarian corridors” and has called for more safe passages to be organized so migrants don’t have to risk dangerous Mediterranean crossings with smugglers.
One dead, five injured in Bagerhat road crash
A person was killed and five others were injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a jeep in Bagerhat’s Mollahat area on Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Shuvo Elahi, 24, the driver of the jeep.
According to police, a Dhaka-bound bus of Imad Paribahan crashed into a Khulna-bound jeep in Kahalpur area under Bagerhat’s Mollahat upazila at about 2:00pm.
“The collision left six people, including Shuvo, in critically injured conditions. They were rushed to Mollahat Upazila Health Complex from where they were sent to Dhaka for better treatment. Shuvo died on his way to Dhaka,” said Sheikh Abul Hasan, In-charge of Mollahat Highway Police Outpost.
Read: 3 killed, 9 injured in Sirajganj microbus accident
Hasan added that although the driver and the helper of the bus have managed to flee, efforts are on to apprehend them.
All the injured were passengers of the jeep, police said.