United News of Bangladesh

The first consignment of 18 modern broad-gauge railway coaches, supplied under an agreement between Bangladesh Railway and India’s Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), is scheduled to enter Bangladesh from India through Darshana International Railway Station in Chuadanga on Friday afternoon. The coaches are expected to reach the Darshana border around 1:30pm before being transported to the Saidpur Railway Workshop after customs formalities are completed. Mamunur Rashid, station manager of Darshana International Railway Station, said the coaches were manufactured in Punjab's Kapurthala and began their journey to Bangladesh on October 12. The coaches are currently stationed at Ranaghat Junction Railway Station in West Bengal. After completing the necessary formalities at Gede in India, the coaches will enter Bangladesh through the Joynagar border point in Darshana, he said. The consignment comprises 18 coaches, including three air-conditioned sleeper coaches, three air-conditioned chair cars, 11 non-air-conditioned chair cars and one power car. Upon arrival at the Saidpur Railway Workshop, the coaches will undergo necessary inspections and technical assessments, Mamunur Rashid said, adding that preparations will then be made to integrate them into passenger train services.

A motorcyclist was killed in a head-on collision with a battery-run auto-rickshaw on the Joypurhat-Akkelpur regional highway in Joypurhat municipal town on Thursday. The deceased was identified as Bikash Chandra Karmakar, 34, son of Bablu Karmakar of Telihata Karmakar Para under Gabtali upazila in Bogura district. According to police and locals, the accident occurred around 2:00pm on Thursday at the Natunhat Korai Factory intersection on the Joypurhat-Akkelpur regional highway. Bikash was traveling from his village in Gabtali, Bogura, to Joypurhat to visit his brother-in-law. Before reaching the town, his motorcycle collided head-on with an oncoming battery-run auto-rickshaw, killing him on the spot. Following the collision, the auto-rickshaw driver fled the scene with his vehicle, preventing immediate detention, police said. Police and Fire Service personnel recovered the body and sent it to the 400-bed Joypurhat General Hospital morgue for an autopsy. Joypurhat Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nur Alam, said no written complaint has been filed yet. Legal action will be taken upon receiving a formal complaint, he added.

Three people, including a child, were killed and 11 others injured in separate road accidents in Narsingdi on Thursday. The accidents occurred in Raipura, Shibpur and Belabo upazilas of the district. In Raipura, a passenger was killed and 11 others, including drivers, were injured when two CNG-run auto-rickshaws collided head-on on the Narsingdi-Raipura regional road in the Mahmudnagar area around 2pm. The deceased was identified as Ujjal Shil, 35, son of Narayan Chandra Shil of Methikanda village in Raipura upazila. Police and locals said five passengers were travelling to Raipura from the Arshinagar CNG stand in Narsingdi when their auto-rickshaw reached the area near the 10th bridge in Mahmudnagar after crossing Hasnabad. The vehicle collided head-on with another auto-rickshaw coming from the opposite direction. One of the vehicles fell into a roadside ditch, while the other overturned beside the road. Both vehicles were badly damaged. Locals rescued the injured and took them to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital, where doctors declared Ujjal, dead. Dr Farida Gulshanara Kabir, residential medical officer of Narsingdi Sadar Hospital, said. One of the injured was referred to Dhaka, while the others were receiving treatment at the hospital. In another incident in the morning, a brick-carrying trolley worker, Md Sabbir Mia, 19, died after falling from the moving vehicle and being crushed under its wheels near Shibpur College Gate in Shibpur upazila. Sabbir was the son of Md Masud Mia of Dhanuya village in Machimpur Union of the upazila, said Shibpur Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Kohinoor Mia. Meanwhile, three-year-old Alisha Akter Noha was killed on the spot after being run over by a brick-carrying trolley in the Patuli riverbank area of Belabo upazila on Thursday morning. Noha was the daughter of Kashem Mia of Patuli village.

All import and export activities through Burimari Land Port in Lalmonirhat will remain suspended for eight consecutive days from Friday on the occasion of Durga Puja and weekly holidays. According to port sources, Thursday was the last working day before the vacation, witnessing intense activity at the tri-nation commercial hub. General Secretary of the Burimari Land Port C&F Agents Association Niaz Nahid said trade leaders from Burimari and India's Changrabandha Land Port held an emergency meeting and decided to keep trade suspended for six days, from October 17 to October 22. Combining two weekly holidays on October 16 and October 23, the total closure extends to eight days. Trading and port operations will resume as normal on October 24. However, cross-border travel for passport-bearing passengers will remain normal throughout the vacation period, said Burimari Land Port Immigration Officer-in-Charge Sub-Inspector (SI) Saifur Rahman.

The death toll from a gas leak explosion in Kanchpur of Sonargaon upazila in Narayanganj has risen to three as another burn victim died at a hospital on Thursday. Riaz died at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery around 2:15pm, said the institute’s resident surgeon, Dr Sultan Mahmud Shikder. Earlier in the day, Riaz’s sister Rozina and her husband Sharif died while undergoing treatment at the same institute. According to the doctor, Rozina suffered burns to 60 percent of her body, while Sharif and Riaz sustained burns to 40 percent each. Another young man, identified as Rony, suffered burns to 70 percent of his body and is undergoing treatment in critical condition. The incident occurred around 1:30am on Sunday when a gas leak triggered an explosion in Kanchpur, leaving four people from two families with burn injuries. The injured were rescued and admitted to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery for treatment.  

Police have arrested two people in Narail on charges of online fraud through Facebook accounts opened under various names, including ‘Baby Bike Shop BD’ and ‘Egyptian Chicken Sale Bazar’, using misleadingly attractive advertisements to lure customers. The arrestees are Mortaza, 27, son of Obaidullah of Pateshwari Dakshinpara in Kalia upazila of Narail, and Limon Molla, 27, a bKash agent and son of Kamal Molla of Narayanpur village in the same upazila. Narail District Detective Branch (DB) Police Officer-in-Charge Md Alauddin disclosed the information at a press conference on Thursday afternoon. Members of the district DB police and the Cyber Crime Investigation Unit arrested them during raids in different areas around 2:30am on Wednesday. Police also seized three mobile phones allegedly used in the fraud and Tk 82,810 believed to have been obtained through the scheme. According to DB police OC Alauddin, the suspects initially admitted to carrying out online fraud for nearly two years through attractive advertisements posted under the names ‘Baby Bike Shop BD’, ‘Baby Bike’, ‘Kolom Packaging Chakrir Dak 2.0’, ‘Egyptian Chicken Sale Bazar 2.0’ and ‘Kombol.bd’. The group allegedly opened Facebook pages and used enticing advertisements to promise products at low prices, collecting money from customers without delivering the promised goods.

A court in Faridpur on Thursday convicted a man and sentenced him to death for raping an eight-year-old schoolgirl in 2021. Faridpur District and Sessions Judge Md Abul Bashar Mia handed down the punishment. The convict is identified as Akidul Sheikh, 25, son of Selim Sheikh of Nauapara village in Alfadanga upazila of the district. The court also fined him Tk 2 lakh. According to the prosecution, Akidul forcibly took the Class III student to a bamboo grove beside a road and raped her while she was on her way to school on June 20, 2021. Later, she managed to reach her school. Noticing that the girl was in distress, the school authorities informed her parents. She was taken to Faridpur Medical College and Hospital for treatment. On June 21, 2021, the girl’s father filed a case with Alfadanga Police Station. Police later submitted a charge sheet against Akidul.

Two motorcyclists were killed after a truck hit their motorcycle from behind on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Sarail upazila of Brahmanbaria on Wednesday. The deceased were identified as Anwarul Azim, 55, and Anup Kumar Das, 55, both residents of Sataripara in Narsingdi Sadar upazila. Abdul Halim, officer-in-charge of Khatihata Highway Police Station, said the accident occurred around 7:30 am in the Baishamora area of Sarail when the two were travelling from Narsingdi to Sylhet by motorcycle. Anup died on the spot, while Anwarul was rescued by locals and taken to Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment, the OC said. Police seized the truck but its driver managed to flee. Legal action will be taken in this regard, the OC added.

State Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Mir Shahe Alam on Wednesday said districts represented by BNP lawmakers have not faced any fertiliser shortage. The problems reported elsewhere might have been orchestrated by supporters of MPs from the 11-party alliance to mislead the government, he told reporters during a visit to the grave of Shaheed Abrar Fahad at Raidanga village in Koya Union under Kumarkhali upazila of Kushtia around noon. The state minister later attended an exchange meeting organised by the Bridge Implementation Committee at Ghoraighat on the bank of the Gorai River. He said fertiliser dealers appointed during the previous (AL) government's tenure were not cooperating with the current administration, which led to some isolated incidents of fertiliser-related problems. Shahe Alam, however, said any irregularities in the appointment of fertiliser dealers during the current government's tenure would be investigated. He also announced that the government has taken an initiative to construct a bridge over the Gorai River in Kumarkhali named after Shaheed Abrar Fahad. He said plans for the bridge would be finalised and construction work undertaken as soon as possible.  

A man was killed in a collision between a truck and a CNG-run autorickshaw in Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj on Wednesday afternoon. The deceased was identified as Ajim Uddin, 32, son of Hasanul of the Chouka area in the upazila. Quoting locals, police said the accident occurred when a CNG-run autorickshaw travelling from Chapainawabganj collided with a stone-laden truck coming from Sonamasjid Land Port in the Chhatrajitpur-Phultala area. Ajim, a passenger in the autorickshaw, sustained critical injuries in the collision. Locals rescued him and took him to the Sadar hospital, where the attending doctor declared him dead. Matiur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Shibganj Police Station, said police seized the truck but its driver managed to flee Legal action would be taken in connection with the accident, he added.