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2 farm workers dead, 12 injured as truck carrying them falls into ditch in Satkhira
Two farm workers were dead and 12 people were injured as a truck carrying them fell into a roadside ditch after overturning on Khulna-Satkhira highway in Tala upazila of Satkhira early this morning (May 16, 2023), said police.
The deceased -- Suman Hossain, 35, and Abul Hossain, 46 -- were residents of Shyamnagar upazila in the district.
Of the injured, only three could be identified: Farida Khatun, Arafat Hossain Mithu and Eshar Ali.
Taposh Kumar Das, who also sustained injuries in the accident and received treatment from Satkhira Sadar Hospital, said a total of 24 workers including him went to Shariatpur for harvesting paddy a few days back.
On Monday night, all the workers were returning home on a truck loaded with paddy as they got those as wages, he said.
The accident happened around 5:15 am when the truck fell into the roadside ditch after overturning in front of Kumira Women's College on the highway, he said, adding that the helper was driving the vehicle despite their objection.
Shawkat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Khulna-Satkhira highway police station, said the accident left Suman dead on the spot and 13 others critically injured.
On information, members of a nearby fire station rushed to the spot, recovered the body from beneath the truck, and sent the injured to several hospitals including the Sadar Hospital, he said.
Injured Abul Hossain succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, the OC said, adding that the truck was seized but its driver and helper managed to flee.
Ten workers who sustained minor injuries returned home later, the police officer added.
2 construction workers die after falling off building in Dhaka
Two construction workers died after falling off an under-construction building at Postogola in the city on Saturday.
The deceased were identified as Rabbi, 20, son of Liton of Tangail district and Robi, 18.
The two workers fell from Gazi Tower, an under construction building at Kadamtoli while working there in the morning, said Inspector Bachhu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp.
Later, they were taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where doctors declared them dead.
Man dies after being hit by bus in Dhaka
A 40-year old unidentified man died after being hit by a bus in the capital’s Kamalapur crossing on Sunday morning.
The deceased, apparently a vagabond, was wearing pant and jacket.
Ujjal Miah, a sub-inspector of Motijheel police station, said the accident occurred around 10am when the speeding bus knocked him down in front of Traffic Box in Kamalapur crossing, leaving him critically injured.
Also Read: Unidentified man crushed under train in Dhaka’s Banani
Auto-rickshaw driver Md Russel rushed him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where physicians declared him dead upon arrival, the SI said, adding that the body was kept at the hospital morgue for autopsy.
176 dead, many more missing after Congo floods
The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen to 176, with some 100 people still missing, according to a provisional assessment given by the governor and authorities in the country's South Kivu province.
Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe close to the shores of Lake Kivu. Authorities also reported scores of people injured.
South Kivu Gov. Théo Ngwabidje visited the area to see the destruction for himself, and posted on his Twitter account that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies.
Several main roads to the affected area have been been made impassable by the rains, hampering the relief efforts.
President Felix Tshisekedi has declared a national day of mourning on Monday to honor the victims, and the central government is sending a crisis management team to South Kivu to support the provincial government.
Heavy rains in recent days have brought misery to thousands in East Africa, with parts of Uganda and Kenya also seeing heavy rainfall.
Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, left 129 people dead earlier this week.
JnU student injured in gas line explosion dies at DMCH
A student of Jagannath University, who sustained burn injuries in a gas pipeline explosion at Dhupkhola Bazar in Gandaria area of Dhaka city on Monday, died at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery early Saturday.
The deceased was identified as Mehedi Hasan Shaon, 22, son of Abdul Latif from Sadar upazila in Natore district.
With 30% burn injuries, Shaon was undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, where he succumbed to his injuries around 6:15 am today, said Inspector Bachhu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp.
Earlier, on Monday, at least nine people sustained burn injuries in a gas pipeline explosion in Dhupkhola Bazar area.
Also read: 2 women among 9 burnt in gas line explosion in Dhaka
The injured were Md Sohel, 42, Mehedi Hasan Shaon, 22, Ali Hossain, 52, Rashed Miah, 32, Sahara Begum, 65, Abdur Rahim, 50, Mim Akter, 22, Alif, 22, Mizanur Rahman, 32.
Of them, Abdur Rahim and Shaon received around 40 and 30 percent burns, respectively.
All the injured were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and Burn Unit.
According to a statement of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, a contractor of WASA was setting up pipes for water supply in the area on Monday morning.
The explosion occurred in the morning when the gas pipelines were damaged during digging by the WASA contractor, it said.
Responding to the call, an emergency team from Titas Gas rushed to the spot and fixed the issue, it read.
Death toll from Narayanganj re-rolling mill explosion rises to 4
Three more workers died after they were injured in an explosion that took place at a re-rolling mill of Bhulta Gauchia area of Rupganj upazila in Narayanganj taking the toll to 4, police said on Friday.
Elias Ali (35) and Alamgir (30) of Kishoreganj’s Itna upazila and Neyon (20) of Rajbari succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (SHNIBPS), Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH police outpost, said.
Earlier on Thursday, a worker named Shankar was declared dead by the doctor after being rushed to the hospital. The conditions of three others remain critical.
Also Read: Death toll from Narayanganj re-rolling mill explosion rises to 3
Elias died on Thursday night while undergoing treatment. SM Ayub Hossain, a resident surgeon at the Burn Institute, said he suffered 98 percent burns.
Meanwhile, Neyon breathed his last at around 10am on Friday morning at the burn institute. He suffered 97 percent burns. Alamgir succumbed to his injuries at around 12:30 pm. 95% of his body was burnt, according to the resident doctor.
The bodies have been kept at the hospital morgue for autopsy.
Man dead in wild elephant attack as villagers try to chase them away in Mymensingh
A man died in a wild elephant attack when villagers were chasing the herd at Gabrakhali border area in Mymensingh’s Haluaghat upazila.
The deceased was identified as Md. Iddis Mia, 50.
According to locals, a herd of 30-35 wild elephants came to the Gabrakhali border area and went into the village’s crop fields looking for food.
Villagers of Kandapara chased the herd to drive them away.
Iddis Mia was attacked when he got too close to the herd, said Md. Abdul Mannan, Chairman of Gazirvita union parishad.
Shahinuzzaman, officer-in-charge of Haluaghat police station, confirmed the matter.
Trawler with wedding party capsize in Patuakhali: Groom, 3 others still missing
The search for four people including a groom, his mother and two others, who went missing after a trawler carrying a wedding party capsized in Tetulia River in Patuakhali’s Dashmina upazila on Friday, resumed on Saturday for the second day.
Those who remain missing were identified as the groom Rabbi Hawladar, 20, son of Manir Hawladar of Guli Auliapur; his mother, Selina Akter, 40; Khadiza, 5, daughter of Dhalu Hawladar; and Mansura, 8, daughter of Belal Munshi.
Local administration, three units of Fire Services and Navy jointly started conducted the rescue operation from Saturday morning, said Anwar Hossain, leader of Dashmina Fire Service Station.
Also Read: Woman drowns, 4 others go missing as trawler capsizes in Patuakhali
Nafisa Naz Nia, Dashmina Upazila Nirbahi Officer, said the local administration has taken the matter with utmost importance to rescue the missing persons.
Earlier, on Friday, a woman was dead and four went missing when the trawler carrying a wedding party capsized in the river during a storm while returning with the bride.
Bride Sumaiya and 14 others were on the trawler.
The deceased was identified as Lipi Begum, 30, wife of Dhalu Hawladar of Uttar Ronogopaldi in the upazila.
One dead, 2 injured as bike falls into ditch on Dhaka-Mawa highway
A youth was dead and two people were injured as their motorbike lost control and fell into a roadside ditch in Srinagar Hashara area on Dhaka-Mawa Highway on Tuesday night.
The deceased was identified as Al-Amin, 25, a resident of Ufulki village of Tangail.
The accident occurred around 9:30 pm.
Also Read: Man, nephew killed in Dinajpur road crash
Locals rushed them to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) where the duty doctor declared Al Amin dead.
One of the injured was sent to National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Hospital.
Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) police outpost, said the body has been kept at the hospital morgue for an autopsy.
Long days of gravediggers tell story of Ukraine’s war dead
The graves are dug in the morning. Four plots, each two meters deep in the section of a cemetery in a central Ukrainian city devoted to the nation’s fallen soldiers.
The day begins for Oleh Itsenko, 29, and Andrii Kuznetsov, 23, shortly after dawn, when the two diggers report for the grueling work. A day in their lives tells the story of Ukraine’s mounting war dead. They won’t be finished until sunset.
With a tractor equipped with an earth auger they bore into the ground. Armed with shovels, they go about carving out perfect rectangles with precision, the final resting place for the country’s soldiers killed in fierce battles on Ukraine’s eastern front.
There will be four funerals today in the main cemetery of Kryvyi Rih, an iron-mining city 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the capital, Kyiv.
Also Read: UN chief, representatives of the West berate Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov over Ukraine war
“It’s hard,” says Itsenko, a former metal worker. “But someone’s got to do it.”
In Ukraine, even the business of death has become routine as funerals are held for soldiers across the country almost every day, at times multiple times a day. The war’s death toll is kept a closely guarded secret by government and military officials, but it can be measured in other ways: through the long working hours of the two young men, the repetitive rhythm of shovels and spades scooping up soil, the daily processions of weeping mourners.
Western officials estimate there have been at least 100,000 Ukrainians soldiers killed or wounded since Russia’s full-scale invasion began last year. Estimates for Moscow’s war dead and wounded are double that as Ukrainian military officials report Russia is using wave tactics to exhaust resources and deplete their morale.
Many soldiers have died fighting in Bakhmut, in what has become the war’s longest battle, and among the deadliest. Ukrainian forces in the city are surrounded from three directions by advancing Russian invaders, and are determined to hold on to the city to deprive Moscow of any territorial victories. In the process many Ukrainian servicemen have died.
Also Read: NATO head defiantly says Ukraine belongs in alliance one day
At 11 a.m., when the first coffin arrives, the two men lean back, exhausted, under the late morning sun. Shovels to the side, they peer from under baseball caps as the familiar scene, now a routine, unfolds.
The family of Andrii Vorobiov, 51, weep as they enter the premises. Dozens more mourners arrive in buses. The deceased’s fellow servicemen weep as the coffin, draped in the yellow and blue of the national flag, is placed on the gravel. Vorobiov died in an aerial bomb attack in Bakmut, leaving behind three children.
When the priest is done reciting the funeral rites, Vorobiov’s wife throws her hands over his coffin and wails. His daughter holds his medals, won for acts of bravery in the battlefield.
“I won’t see you again,” she screams. “You won’t come to breakfast. I can’t bear it!”
Between tears and screams, Itsenko and Kuznetsov wait for the last handful of dirt to be tossed onto the lowered coffin. Then they can begin the work of filling Vorobiov’s grave.
The outpouring of grief is normal, Kuznetsov said. He isn’t affected most of the time because they are strangers.
But once, he was asked to help carry the coffin because there weren’t enough pallbearers. He couldn’t hold back his anguish in the middle of that crowd.
He didn’t even know the guy, he reflected.
Kuznetsov never imagined he would be a gravedigger. He has a university degree in Technology. A good degree, he was told by his teachers.
“If it’s so good then why am I doing this?” he asked, panting as he shoveled dirt into Vorobiov’s grave.
There were no jobs, and he needed the money, he said finally.
Itsenko lost his job when the war broke out, and learned the local cemetery needed diggers. Without any options, he didn’t need to think twice.
It is 1:30 p.m. While the two young men are still working to fill the first grave, another funeral is starting.
The family of Andrii Romanenko, 31, erects a tent to protect the coffin from the afternoon sun. The priest reads the rites and the wailing starts again.
Romanenko died when he was hit by a mortar defending the city of Bakhmut. A fellow servicemen, Valery, says they had served together in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk but parted ways in December.
“He went too soon,” says Valery, sighing deeply. He speaks on the condition his last name be withheld, citing Ukrainian military protocols for active soldiers.
As mourners bid their last farewell and toss earth into Romanenko’s grave, Itsenko and Kuznetsov still have not finished filling the first.
“Got to hurry,” says Itsenko, wiping the sweat from his brow.
There will be two more funerals in the next hour. And tomorrow, there will be another three funerals. Neither man can afford to stop.
“What we are doing is for the greater good,” Itsenko says. “Our heroes deserve a proper resting place.”
But he, his family’s only breadwinner, wouldn’t want to be fighting alongside them.
“It’s better here,” he says, patting Vorobiov’s grave with his shovel. Kuznetsov plunges the cross into the earth, the last step before the flowers are laid.
One done, three more to go.