district
Death toll from Karatoa boat capsize rises to 68
The death toll from the boat capsize in the River Karatoa rose to 68 as 18 more bodies were fished out of the water in Boda upazila of Panchagarh Tuesday.
Divers from three firefighting units recovered the 18 bodies from different spots of the river, Dipongkar Roy, additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of the district administration, said.
So far the deceased included 30 women, 21 children and 17 men while four others are still missing, ADC Dipongkar said while announcing the rescue operation was calling it a day for the third consecutive day on Tuesday night.
Earlier 50 bodies were recovered on Sunday and Monday from different spots of the river.
Read: Trawler capsize in Panchagarh: 8 bodies recovered in Dinajpur
Mentionable, the overloaded boat carrying mostly Hindu devotees sank in the middle of the river while heading towards Badheshwar Temple on the occasion of Mahalaya around 2:30pm on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a five-member probe body, headed by Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Dipankar Roy, was formed to investigate the capsize, said Md Zahurul Islam, deputy commissioner of Panchagarh.
The committee was asked to submit its report within three working days.
3 killed, another injured in Kishoreganj road mishap
Three people died and another got injured as a speeding bus ran over their three-wheeler auto-rickshaw on Kishoreganj-Bhairab Regional Road under Kuliarchar upazila of the Kishoreganj district on Tuesday afternoon.
The deceased are Motiar Rahman, 60, N Islam, 65, and Kala Mia, 40. Of them Motiur and Kala Mia hailed from Bhairab upazila and N Islam from Kuliarchar upazila. The identity of the injured could not be known immediately.
Read: Couple among three killed in Cumilla road accident
Mohammad Golam Mostafa, officer-in-charge (OC) of Kuliarchar police station, said the accident happened around 3.30pm when the speeding passenger bus rammed into the auto-rickshaw from behind in Chhoysuti area under the upazila, leaving two of the four killed on the spot.
One of the two others injured succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital while rest one has been undergoing treatment at Jahurul Islam Medical College Hospital, he said.
Locals seized the bus but its driver managed to flee the spot, the OC added.
Smuggler held with 10 gold bars in Benapole
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Tuesday detained a man along with 10 gold bars weighing over one kg at Goga border in Benapole upazila of Jashore.
The detainee was identified as Sakib, a resident of the upazila.
Tipped off, a team of BGB-21 conducted a drive in the area and detained Sakib with the gold bars worth Tk 1 crore this morning, said commanding officer of BGB-21 Lieutenant Colonel Tanvir Ahmed.
A case was filed at Sharsha police station in this regard, the commanding officer said.
Karatoya boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 64
The death toll from the boat capsize in the Karatoya river of Panchagarh rose to 64 on Tuesday, with the recovery of nine more bodies Tuesday morning.
Two of the bodies were fished out of the Atrai river in Birganj upazila of Dinajpur and two from Debiganj upazila in Panchagarh, while the remaining were recovered from the area of the tragedy, said Dipankar Roy, additional district magistrate.
Also read: Death toll from sinking of Karatoa boat rises to 55
Among the deceased, 28 were women, 18 children and 15 men while gender of three more bodies could not be known yet, said SM Sirajul Huda, superintendent of Panchagarh Police.
Rescue operations resumed 7am and "efforts are on to trace 20 more missing passengers", he said.
Earlier, SM Sirajul Huda, superintendent of Panchagarh Police, said they had received a list of 40 missing people from their relatives.
Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan visited the spot and announced that each of the deceased family will get Tk 20,00 from the government and Tk 25,000 from the Ministry of Religious affairs for funeral.
Meanwhile, a five-member probe body, headed by additional DM Roy, was formed to investigate the incident and it was asked to submit its report today, said Md Zahurul Islam, deputy commissioner of Panchagarh.
On Sunday, the overloaded passenger boat carrying around 80 people, mostly Hindu devotees, sank in the middle of the river while heading towards Badheshwar Temple on the occasion of Mahalaya at 2.30pm.
Also read: 15 die as boat sinks in Karatoya River in Panchagarh; 25 go missing
Some 25 bodies were recovered from the river on that day only, while many others managed to swim ashore.
This is the worst waterways accident the country witnessed after the devastating fire incident in a Barguna-bound launch off the coast of Jhalakathi on December 24 last year that left 50 people dead.
Alikadam UNO who broke football trophies transferred to Dhaka
Upazila nirbahi officer Mehruba Islam who received flak for smashing trophies of a football match has been transferred to Dhaka division from Bandarban's Alikadam.
The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification in this regard on Sunday, signed by senior assistant secretary Sheikh Shamsul Arafeen.
UNO Mehruba Islam has been empowered with Section 144 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, to act as an executive magistrate, said the notification.
On September 23, UNO Mehruba broke the trophies she was supposed to distribute to the winners of a football match at Repar Para Government Primary School in Alikadam upazila.
The video of the incident went viral on social media, sparking a lot of criticism.
Banned fishing nets worth over Tk 9 cr seized in Chandpur
Members of Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) seized banned fishing nets worth around Tk 9 crore from the Raghunathpur area of Chandpur Sadar Upazila on Monday morning.
Acting on a tip-off, a special operation was conducted by BCG Station Chandpur led by Station Commander Lt. B M Tanjimul Islam in the area around 9:30am on Monday, said Lt. Mashhad Uddin Nahian, a media officer at the BCG Dhaka Zone.
During the raid, the law enforcers seized around 2.5 million meters of new current nets from three Easy-bikes worth Tk 9,03,00,000 in the area.
Read: Coast Guard seizes banned fishing nets worth over Tk 115 cr
The seized nets were later burnt in the presence of Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer and Station Commander Chandpur on the Coast Guard office premises, the media officer added.
13-year-old boy tied to tree, tortured to death in Cox’s Bazar: One held
A 13-year-old teenage boy was tortured to death after being tied to a tree over a trifling matter in Eidgaon upazila of Cox’s Bazar district on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Sazzad, son of Nurul Huda of Uttar Sat Jhulakata village in the upazila.
Mahfuzul Islam, superintendent of Cox’s Bazar Police, said a complaint has been lodged with Eidgaon Police.
Police registered a murder case following the complaint later.
Police also arrested Mohammad Alam, the prime accused in the case in the small hours of Monday. The others accused were identified as Abdus Salam alias Tuilla, 55, son of Saber Ahmed, Minuara Begum, 40, wife of Abdus Salam and Nurul Azim alias Kalu, 15, son of Abdus Salam.
Sazzad had a quarrel with the son of Alam and he tortured Sazzad over the issue, he said. “However, police are investigating the incident.”
Read: 6-year-old raped in Rajshahi, youth held
According to the complaint, a group of miscreants dragged and picked up Sazzad to East Isakhali village from in front of a tea shop around 3 pm on Saturday.
Later, a group of musclemen led by Alam, 30, beat Sazzad up mercilessly after tying him up to a betel-nut tree.
When Sazzad became unconscious, they left him abandoned, assuming that he was dead.
On information, Sazzad’s father Nurul rescued him and gave him first aid. After seeing the deteriorated condition of Sazzad, they took him to Eidgaon Medical Hospital where the doctors declared him dead at 6 pm on Sunday.
Police sent the body to the hospital morgue for autopsy.
Efforts are on to arrest other culprits, said SP Mahfuzul.
Trawler capsize in Panchagarh: 8 bodies recovered in Dinajpur
Bodies of two children and six women, who had died in the trawler capsize in Panchagarh’s Karatoya river, were recovered from rivers in Dinajpur today.
According to police, the bodies came floating in the rivers, under the district’s Khansama and Birganj upazila.
Chitta Ranjan Ray, Officer In-charge (OC) of Khansama Police Station, said that they recovered bodies of one child and four women from the Atrai river till 4:00pm.
“Of the bodies, four have been returned to their families,” Chitta Ranjan said.
Also read: Death toll from Karatoya trawler capsize stands at 36
Subrata Kumar Sarkar, OC of Birganj Police Station, said that they recovered bodies of one child and two women from Atrai and Dhepa rivers during the same period.
“Families have identified the bodies to be of those who had died in the trawler capsize in Panchagarh’s Boda area. After identification, we handed over the bodies to their families following proper legal process,” said Shah Iftekhar Ahmed, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Dinajpur district.
Also read: Karatoya trawler tragedy: Death toll rises to 25
2 kids drown in Khagrachhari pond
Two minor children drowned in a pond at Muslim Para in Dighinala upazila of Khagrachhari district on Monday.
The deceased were identified as Farhan, 2, son of Kamal Hossain and Nusrat, one and a half-month old baby.
Abdul Alim, member of no 1 ward of Kabakhali union, said the two kids slipped into the pond while playing near it at noon.
Later, local people took them to Dighinala Upazila Health Complex where doctors pronounced them dead.
6-year-old raped in Rajshahi, youth held
A six-year-old girl has been raped allegedly by a youth in Durgapur upazila of Rajshahi, said police.
Police also arrested Nadim Hossain, 22, on Sunday.
Nadim, who used to work in the rape survivor’s family’s cropland, raped the minor girl after finding her alone at her home Sunday noon, said Nazmul Hoque, officer-in-charge (OC) of Durgapur police station.
Hearing the scream of the girl, neighbours rushed to the spot and caught Nadim.
The girl was admitted to the One Stop Crisis (OCC) Center of Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH), he added.
Police arrested the youth following a complaint lodged at the police sation, said the OC.