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UP chairman candidate killed: EC postpones polls in Pabna
The Election Commission (EC) has postponed the election for the post of Chairman at Bharara Union Parishad (UP) of Pabna Sadar Upazila following the death of a chairman candidate in a clash.
Pabna District Senior Election Officer Mahbubur Rahman said that if a candidate is killed in pre-polls violence, there is a provision to postpone the polls for that post as per the rules of the EC.
Police said a clash ensued between the supporters of independent chairman candidate Sultan Mahmud Khan and Awami League candidate Abu Sayed Khan over pasting posters at Bhatara village on Saturday.
READ: 7 arrested for attacking presiding officer in Cumilla UP election
During the clash the rival groups exchanged gunfire, leaving Yasin and 12 others injured, said Masud Alam, additional superintendent of Pabna police.
Yasin succumbed to his injuries on the way to Rajshahi Medical College, he said.
Nine of the injured were admitted to Pabna General Hospital and six of them later shifted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
READ: Aushkandi UP election finally held: AL’s Delwar Hossain elected as chairman
Dengue: 35 new patients hospitalized in 24 hrs
Thirty-five new dengue patients were hospitalised in 24 hours till Saturday morning, health authorities said.The number of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease remained unchanged at 101 as no new death was reported during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).Ninety-two people died in Dhaka division alone, three in Mymensingh division, two each in Chattogram, and Khulna divisions and one each in Rajshahi and Barishal divisions.Eighteen new patients are undergoing treatment at hospitals in Dhaka while the remaining 17 cases have been reported from outside the division.Some 193 patients who were diagnosed with dengue are receiving treatment in the country as of Saturday.Of them, 126 patients are receiving treatment at different hospitals in the capital while the remaining 67 were listed outside Dhaka.
READ: Dengue: 23 new patients hospitalized in 24 hrs
Since January, some 27,928 patients have been admitted to different hospitals with dengue in the country. So far, 27,634 dengue patients have left hospitals after recovery, said DGHS.Experts’ opinion Experts attribute the unusually high dengue cases during the dry season, mainly in Dhaka, to the prolonged rainy season, sporadic rainfall, and high humidity and temperature, Aedes mosquitoes' reproductive and behavioural changes caused by climate change and lack of people’s awareness and poor controlling measures by the two city corporations of the capital.
READ: Dengue: 1 more dies, 31 new patients hospitalized in 24 hrs
They also said the climate conditions of Bangladesh are becoming more favourable for the Aedes mosquitos to prevail in all seasons with high or low intensity mainly for the increase in temperature and breeding sources.
Man found dead on the day of his wedding
A man who went missing a day before his wedding ceremony was found dead on Friday afternoon in a forest in Gazipur.
The man was identified as Shariful, an auto rickshaw driver.
READ: Murder-suicide attempt: Gazipur woman kills daughters, tries to kill herself
It was learned that his marriage ceremony was set to be held this morning but he had been missing since last night. And in the afternoon Kaliakoir police found his headless body in the Gajari forest area.
Police officials did not comment on the incident.
READ: Fire guts valuables at Gazipur RMG factory
However, the family of the deceased demanded that police investigate the murder. They suspected it as work of a member of bride’s family, but did not name any one.
A CID team also visited the spot and conducted a primary investigation.
26-yr-old woman found dead on launch
A 26-year-old woman has been found dead inside a locked cabin on a launch that plies on the Dhaka-Barishal route.
The deceased was identified as Sharmin Aktar, daughter of Enayet Hossain Fakir and a resident of Dhaka’s Kunipara area.
Police recovered the body from one of the mariner’s rooms on the ground floor of the Barishal-bound launch, MV Kuakata-2, on Friday morning.
READ: Trawler sinks in Bay: 13 Bhola fishermen go missing
Mariner Md Shohag said he rented the room for Tk 1,800 a night to a man and woman who had identified themselves as husband and wife.
As the room was locked from outside in the morning, the launch authorities broke open the door only to find the girl’s body.
"The body has been sent for an autopsy. We are scanning the CCTV footage to ascertain the facts," said Lokman Hossain, inspector of Kotwali model police station.
"Efforts are on to contact her family."
Habibur Rahman, additional superintendent of Barishal naval police, said they suspect the woman was murdered.
READ: 2 missing as trawler capsizes in Shitalakkhya
53 migrants dead, 54 injured in truck crash in south Mexico
A cargo truck jammed with people who appeared to be Central American migrants rolled over and crashed into a pedestrian bridge over a highway in southern Mexico on Thursday, killing at least 53 people and injuring dozens more, authorities reported.
The federal Attorney General’s Office said the preliminary estimate lists 53 dead, with three of the injured in critical condition.
Luis Manuel Moreno, the head of the Chiapas state civil defense office, said about 21 of the injured had serious wounds and were taken to local hospitals.
The crash occurred on a highway leading toward the Chiapas state capital. Photos from the scene showed victims strewn across the pavement and inside the truck’s freight compartment.
Video footage showed the dead and injured migrants jumbled into a pile inside the collapsed freight container, with some struggling to extract themselves from the weight of bodies piled atop them.
Also read: Camped in Calais, migrants renew resolve to try for England
Later, rescue workers arranged the dead in rows of white sheets, side by side, on the asphalt.
The victims appeared to be immigrants from Central America, though their nationalities had not yet been confirmed. Moreno reported that some of the survivors said they were from the neighboring country of Guatemala.
Sitting on the pavement beside the overturned trailer, survivor Celso Pacheco of Guatemala said the truck felt like it was speeding and then seemed to lose control under the weight of the migrants inside.
Pacheco said there were migrants from Guatemala and Honduras aboard and estimated there were eight to 10 young children. He said he was trying to reach the United States, but now he expected to be deported to Guatemala.
Rescue workers tried to excavate survivors from a pile of humanity in the flipped trailer, separating the injured from the dead. Dazed wounded stumbled among the wreckage.
Marco Antonio Sánchez, director of the Chiapas Firefighter Institute, said ambulances raced victims to three hospitals, carrying three to four injured each. When there weren’t enough ambulances they loaded them into pickup trucks, he said.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei wrote on Twitter: “I deeply regret the tragedy in Chiapas state, and I express my solidarity for the victims' families, to whom we will offer all the necessary consular assistance, including repatriation.”
Moreno said that it appeared that speed and the weight of the truck’s human cargo may have caused it to tip over, and that as the vehicle toppled over it hit the base of a steel pedestrian bridge. There was a curve in the road near the accident scene that may have contributed to the crash.
That meant at least 107 people were crowed into the vehicle. It is not unusual for freight trucks in Mexico to be carrying so many people in migrant-smuggling operations in southern Mexico.
But rescue workers who first arrived at the scene and who were not authorized to be quoted by name said that even more migrants had been aboard the truck when it crashed and had fled for fear of being detained by immigration agents.
One paramedic said some of those who fled into surrounding neighborhoods were bloodied or bruised, but still limped away in their desperation to escape.
The truck had originally been a closed freight module of the kind used to transport perishable goods. The container was smashed open by the force of the impact. It was unclear if the driver survived.
Also read: France calls for European aid after 27 migrant deaths at sea
Those who spoke to survivors said the migrants told of boarding the truck in Mexico, near the border with Guatemala, and of paying between $2,500 and $3,500 to be transported to Mexico's central state of Puebla. Once there, they would presumably have contracted with another set of migrant smugglers to take them to the U.S. border.
In recent months, Mexican authorities have tried to block migrants from walking in large groups toward the U.S. border, but the clandestine and illicit flow of migrant smuggling has continued.
In October, in one of the largest busts in recent memory, authorities in the northern border state of Tamaulipas found an 652 mainly Central American migrants jammed into a convoy of six freight trucks heading toward the U.S. border.
Irineo Mujica, an activist who is leading a march of a couple of hundred migrants who have been walking for more almost 1 1/2 months across southern Mexico, blamed Mexico's policies of cracking down on migrant caravans for the disaster.
Mujica and his group had almost reached the outskirts of Mexico City on Thursday, after weeks of dealing with National Guard officers who tried to block the march. Mujica said the group would stop Thursday and offer prayers for the dead migrants.
“These policies that kill us, that murder us, is what leads to this type of tragedy,” Mujica said.
In fact, they are two very different groups. Caravans generally attract migrants who don't have the thousands of dollars needed to pay migrant smugglers.
Migrants involved in serious accidents are often allowed to stay in Mexico at least temporarily because they are considered witnesses to and victims of a crime, and later Thursday Mexico's National Immigration Institute said it would offer the humanitarian visas to the survivors.
The agency also said the Mexican government would help identify the dead and cover funeral costs or repatriation of their remains.
Mass deaths of migrants are something that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been desperate to avoid, even as his administration has accepted requests from the U.S. government to stem the flow of migrants moving north. “It is very painful,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
It was one of the worst single-day death tolls for migrants in Mexico since the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants by the Zetas drug cartel in the northern state of Tamaulipas.
1 killed, 7 injured in Sylhet road crash
A person was killed and seven others were injured as a dumping truck collided head on with a passenger bus at Jangail area of Sylhet’s Jalalabad.
The accident occurred on Monday at around 2.30 pm.
READ: Road crashes in Bangladesh claim 413 lives in Nov: Report
The deceased was identified as Muslim Uddin, 28, son of Muktar Ali of Atgaon village under Sunamganj’s Shalla.
Police citing the locals said that a Sylhet-bound dumping truck without any number plate hit a Sunamganj-bound passenger bus around 2.30 pm. The bus fell into a roadside ditch leaving one dead.
Police and fire service members rescued the passengers, they said.
SMP Jalalabad Police OC Nazmul Huda Khan said that one person was killed and seven others injured at the head-on collision. Of the injured three were taken to Osmani Medical College Hospital in critical condition.
READ: Now HSC examinee killed in Ctg road crash
The truck without number plate and the bus have been seized. No arrests have yet been made, he said.
3 feared dead as Myanmar army truck runs down protesters
An army vehicle barreled into a peaceful march of anti-government protesters in military-ruled Myanmar’s biggest city on Sunday, reportedly killing at least three people, witnesses and a protest organizer said.
Sunday’s march was one of at least three held in Yangon, and similar rallies were reported in other parts of the country a day ahead of an expected verdict in the first of about a dozen criminal cases against Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was toppled in a military takeover Feb. 1.
A video posted on social media showed a speeding small army truck heading into the marchers from behind. Voices can be heard, saying: “The car is coming ... Please help! It hit the children ... Oh! ... Dead! ... Run, ... run!” The video shows about a dozen people running from the spot.
A witness told The Associated Press that the protesters had been on his street for just two minutes when the military truck hit them, leaving three people without any sign of movement lying on the road.
Also read: Myanmar court readies verdict for ousted leader Suu Kyi
“About five armed soldiers got out of the vehicle and chased after the protesters,” said the witness, who insisted on anonymity for fear of arrest. “They opened fire and also arrested young people who had been hit by the car. At least 10 people were arrested.”
Security forces have previously used cars to attack protesters since the army took power. They have also freely used live ammunition, killing about 1,300 civilians, according to a detailed list compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The use of lethal force by the army and police has led to less large-scale street protests, which have been replaced by small, quickly organized marches that usually break up at the first sight of the authorities.
Sunday’s deaths in Yangon’s Kyeemyindaing neighborhood could not be immediately confirmed.
Another witness said that when several people came to gather their items, three more military vehicles arrived and arrested several of them.
Also read: US journalist jailed in Myanmar for nearly 6 months is freed
“At least four people, including two young girls who were crying near the shoes, were arrested,” he said. “The soldiers told us to go inside or they would shoot us.”
About 30 people took part in the march, according to a member of Yangon People’s Strike, the local resistance group that organized it. Media posted online showed the protesters carrying placards with Suu Kyi’s image, and calling for the immediate release of the country’s detained civilian leaders.
The organizer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the threat of arrest, said the group held such protests to keep the residents involved in the struggle against the military-installed government.
At the same time, militant urban guerrilla groups have attacked officials and planted bombs, while open armed conflict had engulfed rural areas, leading to a warning the country may slide into civil war.
Since she was detained by the military, Suu Kyi has faced charges from breaching coronavirus regulations to corruption. They're seen as contrived in order to discredit her and justify the military takeover.
The army claims it acted because last November’s election was marked by widespread electoral fraud. Independent observers of the polls, won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, say have seen no evidence justifying the army’s claim.
Indonesia’s volcano spews ash, gas; 1 dead, dozens hurt
The highest volcano on Indonesia’s most densely populated island of Java spewed thick columns of ash, searing gas and lava down its slopes in a sudden eruption triggered by heavy rains on Saturday. At least one villager died from burns and dozens were hospitalized.
Mount Semeru’s eruption in Lumajang district in East Java province left several villages blanketed with falling ash.
A thunderstorm and days of rain, which had eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop the 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) Semeru, triggered an eruption, said Eko Budi Lelono, who heads the geological survey center.
He said flows of searing gas and lava traveled up to 800 meters (2,624 feet) to a nearby river at least twice on Saturday. People were advised to stay 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the crater’s mouth, the agency said.
“Thick columns of ash have turned several villages to darkness,” said Lumajang district head Thoriqul Haq. Several hundred people were moved to temporary shelters or left for other safe areas, he said, adding that power blackout hampered the evacuation.
The debris and lava mixed with the rainfall formed thick mud that destroyed the main bridge connecting Lumajang and the neighboring district of Malang, as well as a smaller bridge, Haq said.
Despite an increase in activity since Wednesday, Semeru’s alert status has remained at the third highest of four levels since it began erupting last year, and Indonesia’s Volcanology Center for Geological Hazard Mitigation did not raise it this week, Lelono said.
READ: Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, lava fountains form in park
One man died from severe burns, and 41 others were hospitalized with burn injuries, said Indah Masdar, the deputy district head. She said two villagers were reported missing and several sand miners were trapped in isolated areas along the village river.
Entire houses in Curah Kobokan village were damaged by volcanic debris, Masdar said.
Television reports showed people screaming and running under a huge ash cloud, their faces wet from rain mixed with volcanic dust. The last time Semeru erupted in January, there were no casualties.
READ: Visit Boga Lake, Bandarban: Natural pool from fairy tales or sleeping volcano
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines.
Munshiganj fire: 36-yr-old father of deceased sisters dies
Another Munshiganj cylinder explosion victim has succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, officials said.
Kawsar, 36, died at the hospital's Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on Saturday morning, taking the total number of deaths in the explosion to three.
Kawsar, 36, his wife Shanta, 27, and their two children -- Yeasmin, 6, and Fatema, 3 -- sustained burn injuries in a fire triggered by the cooking gas cylinder blast in their house in the Char Muktarpur area of Munshiganj's Sadar upazila in early on Thursday morning.
READ: Munshiganj Building Fire: Siblings succumb to burns at SHBU
The two sisters died of their injuries that night only. Their mother and a neighbour are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
For over eight years, Kawsar, a welder by profession, had been staying in Munshiganj with his family.
Sadar Police Station OC Rajib Khan said, "Prima facie, it seemed to be a cooking gas cylinder explosion. But a CID team is investigating the case," he said.
3 killed, 9 injured as train ploughs into bus, auto-rickshaws in Ctg
Three people, including a policeman, were killed and nine others injured when a speeding train hit a bus and two auto-rickshaws at a railway level crossing in the port city of Chattogram Saturday morning.
Witnesses said the train was approaching towards Chattogram rail station from Najirhat around 10:30 am and different vehicles were waiting on both sides of Jhautala level crossing when the train approaching.
The accident occurred as the bus tried to drive through the level-crossing hitting two auto-rickshaws from behind and dragged those onto the level crossing.
Sarwar Alam, officer-in-charge (OC) of the Chattogram Railway Police, said the train crashed into the bus and the two auto-rickshaws.
Read: Road crashes in Bangladesh claim 413 lives in Nov: Report
"Two people were killed on the spot. And the 10 injured have been admitted to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital (CMCH)," the OC said.
The train was a diesel-electric multiple unit one, he added.
Another injured man died at the CMCH around 4:45 pm, said inspector (investigation) of Pachanlaish Police Station Sadiqur Rahman.
The deceased were identified as police constable (Traffic North) Monir Hossian of Noakhali district, Bahauddin Ahmed, an engineer of Dhali Constructions and Sazzad,19, a college student.
Meanwhile, a three-member panel, headed by Additional Superintendent of Chattogram Railway Mohammad Abdul Gafur, was formed to look into the incident, said Hasan Chowdhury, assistant superintendent of Chattogram Railway Police.
Shaheda, a witness, said the gateman of the level-crossing was found sitting in an adjacent shop when the accident occurred.
Read: Tajik engineer killed in Pabna accident
Train accidents in Bangladesh
Train accidents are common in Bangladesh, many at unmanned level crossings and some due to the poor condition of tracks.
According to data provided by the Bangladesh Railway, in August 2019, only 466 gates of its 1,412 level crossings have gatemen.
In November 2019, a deadly collision occurred between Dhaka-bound Turna Nishita Express and Chattogram-bound Udayan Express on the Dhaka-Chattogram route near the Mandbagh railway station in Kasba upazila of Brahmanbaria.
The train crash had left at least 16 people dead and over 100 others injured.
At least 113 people, including 26 women and 11 children, were killed in railway accidents between January 1 and June 30 this year, according to a July report, jointly prepared by the Green Club of Bangladesh (GCB) and the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways.