district
Coal production suspended as 90 mine workers contract Covid in Dinajpur
As many as 90 workers of Barapukuria Coal Mine have tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the management of the state-owned company to halt production from Friday afternoon.
Of these 90 workers, 50 are Chinese. Besides, 400 other workers of the mine, have been asked to remain in home isolation, officials said on Saturday, adding that production would resume after 10 days.
Engineer Saiful Islam Sarkar, a manager of the mine, said that coal lifting work from the 1306 phase started on July 26 on a trial basis and till Friday, "we were able to lift 5,000 metric tonnes of coal".
However, 40,000 metric tonnes of coal are in stock, which will be used to aid power generation, said Saiful.
Meanwhile, samples of local workers in the 1041 phase have been collected and those testing negative will be allowed to join work, he added.
Read: No inventory of Barapukuria coal since 2006: Nasrul Hamid
Two killed in Noakhali accidents
Two people were killed in separate road accidents in Noakhali district in the small hours of Saturday, police said.
The identities of the deceased, both in their 40s, could not be known immediately.
Saiful Islam, a sub-inspector with Chandraganj Highway Police, said the first accident occurred at the busy Begumganj intersection and the second one near Begumganj Eye Hospital on the Feni-Laxmipur regional highway.
The bodies have been kept in the morgue of Noakhali General Hospital, said SI Saiful.
Read: Cop killed in Khulna road crash
Another crushed under same train that killed 11 in miocrobus
Another man was crushed under the wheels of the same train in Chattogram city's Pahartali area that rammed into a microbus at a level crossing at Mirsharai upazila on Friday.
The identity of the deceased could not be known immediately.
The accident occurred in Pahartali Railgate area of the city before the train entered Chittagong station this afternoon, said Mohammad Moniruzzaman, assistant transport officer of Railway.
However, the railway authorities claimed that it was a suicide.
"We are investigating the accident," he added.
Read: 11 tourists killed, 6 injured after train hits microbus in Ctg
Earlier at around 1:30 pm, the Mahanagar Prabhati train ended up dragging the microbus along the track from a level crossing in Mirsharai upazila, killing 11 people.
The dead were all travelling by the microbus. Eleven of them died at the scene, while six others were injured, police and fire service said.
Madrasah boy dies after eating biscuits in Jashore
A 13-year-old boy died and six others of the same madrasah fell sick, after allegedly eating biscuits in Sharsha upazila of Jashore on Friday.
The deceased was identified as Mahin, a student of Ashraful Madaris Qawmi Madrasah in Narayanpur.
Of the injured, Mamunur Rashid, 10, was admitted to Jashore General Hospital in critical condition.
Hafez Maulana Anarul Islam, a teacher of the Madrasa said that the students were sleeping after having lunch. In the afternoon, they fell sick after eating biscuits brought by a student's guardian.
Read: Two found dead in Keraniganj:Police
Later, the injured were taken to the Upazila Health Center where doctors declared Mahin dead on arrival, said Mamun Khan, officer in charge (OC) of Sharsha Police Station.
The body has been sent to Jashore General Hospital morgue for an autopsy, said the OC, adding that the cause behind the death will be known after an investigation.
11 tourists killed, 6 injured after train hits microbus in Ctg
A speeding express train rammed into a microbus at a level crossing at Mirsharai upazila on Friday, killing at least 11 people who were returning from a visit to a popular waterfall in the hills of the area, police and fire service said.
The dead were all travelling by the microbus. Eleven of them died at the scene, while six others were injured, police and fire service said.
Nine of the deceased were identified as ‘R&J’ coaching centre teachers Wahidul Alam Jisan, Sajeeb, Rakib and Redwan; and SSC candidates of KS Najumia High School Hisham, Ayat, Maruf, Tasfir and Hasan.
The six injured are - microbus helper Taukid Ibn Shawon, 20, and students Md Mahim, 18, Tanveer Hasan Hriday, 18, Md Emon, 19, Tasmir Pavel, 16, and Md Saikat, 18. They are undergoing treatment at Chittagong Medical College and Hospital.
They were travelling back home at Aminbazar of Hathazari after a tour of the Khoiyachora Waterfall in the hills of Mirsharai, according to accounts of rescue workers.
Also read: 3 of family killed in Pabna road crash
The tragedy occurred around 1.30pm at the unmanned rail crossing near Bara Takia station of the upazila in Chottgram district, police officials said.
Witnesses told UNB that the Chattogram-bound Mahanagar Provati express from Dhaka ploughed through the microbus, dragging it around a kilometre down the railway track, where the train also stopped.
All the casualties were from the microbus. Eleven of them died on the spot, said Khorshed Alam, in charge of Sitakundu police outpost.
“There were 17 passengers on the microbus and two of them were rescued safely by members of two units of fire service deployed in the area”, said Shahjahan Sikder, deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defence Directorate. Police said six passengers were injured and sent to hospital.
“They were all tourists who went to visit Khoiyachora waterfall in Mirsharai from Aman Bazar area in Hathazari upazila,” he said.
“The microbus got on the rail track breaking through a bamboo barrier at the level crossing before it was hit by the train. Rail operation on the route remained suspended after the accident,” said Ansar Ali, transportation officer of Bangladesh Railway (east).
Four kids succumb to pneumonia in Bhola, over 400 hospitalised
Bhola is witnessing a rise in cases of pneumonia and other cold-related diseases, particularly among kids.
At least four children have died and more than 400 others hospitalised in the district in the past one month, health authorities said on Friday.
Three of the four children who succumbed to pneumonia belonged to Bhola sadar upazila, while the fourth one was a resident of Charfasson upazila, according to Bhola Civil Surgeon’s office.
Also read: Over 14,000 children die in Bangladesh due to drowning every year
Health authorities attributed the deaths and hospitalisations to excessive heat followed by copious showers.
On Friday, 10 more children were hospitalised with pneumonia in the 30-bed children ward of Bhola General Hospital. Besides, over 50 patients are being treated just for cold-related diseases in the 250-bed hospital.
Due to a shortage of beds, some patients have been shifted to different hospitals in the seven upazilas of the district.
Also read: Learning Disabilities in Children: Types, symptoms, ways to help
Dr Tamnnaye Habiba of Bhola General Hospital, said,” Children are more prone to pneumonia and the infection might be rising due to inclement weather. We also have a shortage of doctors and staff but are trying our best to treat patients efficiently.”
Cement-laden vessel sinks in Barishal river
A cement-laden vessel capsized in the Pandob river of the district's Bakerganj upazila on Thursday night, police said.
Bakerganj Police Station officer-in-charge Alauddin Milon said the vessel left Barishal with 1,000 sacks of cement at night.
Read: Trawler capsizes off Chandpur
"When the trawler reached the Kheyaghat area of Kaloskathi union, it collided with the bulkhead of another vessel coming from the opposite direction and sank," he said.
However, the skipper of the vessel and his associate managed to swim ashore. "One of them, named Ripan, was injured and admitted to Bakerganj Health Complex," the officer said.
3 of family killed in Pabna road crash
Three of a family, including two children, were killed and four others injured when a speeding bus crashed into their van on the Dhaka-Pabna Highway of Pabna's Santhia upazila on Thursday night, police said.
The deceased were identified as Abu Sayeed, 55, son of late Abdul Latif, his son Tawhid, 4, and niece Rauja, 5, all residents of Durgapur village under Kashinathpur union of the upazila.
Santhia Police Station officer-in-charge Asif Mohammad Siddiqul Islam said that the victims were returning home after attending a feast in Korial village around 8pm when the Dhaka-bound C-Line transport bus hit their van at high speed.
Read: Narail road accidents claim two lives
The crash left all the seven seriously injured. The victims were rushed to a local hospital and later shifted to Pabna General Hospital as their condition deteriorated.
Two of the critically injured victims succumbed to their injuries on the way while another died at Pabna General Hospital, said the police official.
SM Abdul Kashem Azad, OC of Madhpur Highway Police Station, said the driver and the helper of the bus managed to flee. "Efforts are on to nab them," he said.
Rail links with Khulna resume 2 hours after oil-carrying train derails
Train communications between Khulna and other parts of the country resumed almost two hours after the derailed compartment of an oil-carrying train in Jashore was recovered Thursday night.
Around 6:35pm, a compartment of a Khulna-bound train derailed near Jashore Railway Station, Station Master Ainal Hossain told UNB.
The oil-bearing train arrived from Parbatipur with 36 compartments. The No. 31 compartment derailed as the train crossed Jashore town's Railgate area, the station master said.
The compartment could be retrieved almost two hours later, and train operation on the route resumed around 8:20pm, Aynal added.
Also read: Freight train derails in Kushtia
ACC sues police inspector, wife in Chattogram
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Thursday filed a case against a police inspector and his wife over corruption charges.
They are Md Shahjahan, an inspector of industrial police Chattogram region and ex-OC of Lohagara police station, and his wife Ferdousi Akter.
Md Atikul Alam, Deputy Director of ACC’s Chattogram office, filed the case.
“According to their wealth statements, they acquired wealth worth Tk 1.5 crore beyond their known sources of income. The ACC has filed the case as these allegations have been primarily proved,” said Atikul.
According to ACC, Shahjahan joined the police force in 1990. ACC first learned about Shahjahan’s illegal wealth while an allegation of corruption by him was proved in 2017 when Shahjahan was the OC of Lohagara police station.
In his wealth statement, Shahjahan showed his movable and immovable properties to be worth Tk 2.65 crore. While he showed Tk 78.50 lakh as his total income since joining police, he claimed that he had spent Tk 26 lakh since then.
The ACC found Tk 1.25 crore in Shahjahan’s possession beyond his known sources of income.
Besides, the ACC asked Shahjahan’s wife Ferdousi Akter to submit her wealth statement on March 14, 2019, which she did on April 17 of the same year.
In the case statement, the ACC said that Ferdousi showed Tk 2.30 crore as her income through using the names of fake poultry and fish businesses.