dead
Kurigram road crash leaves 3 dead
Three people were killed and three other sustained injuries in a collision between an auto-rickshaw and a tractor in Kurigram on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Habibullah,22, a college student, Rabeya Khatun,62,and Nur Ali,55.
The accident occurred near the Kurarpar area on the north side of Kurigram Dharala bridge road.
Also read: 2 killed in Dhaka road accidents
Officer-in-Charge of Kurigram sadar police station Khan Md Shahriar said the Kurigram-bound autorickshaw collided with the tractor coming from the opposite direction, leaving Habibullah and Rabeya dead on the spot.
Another passenger, Nur Ali, succumbed to his injuries at Kurigram General Hospital, said Dr Pulak Kumar Sarkar, resident medical officer of the hospital.
Of the injured, a passenger named Nur Mohammad was referred to Rangpur Medical Hospital as his injuries were critical, said the doctor.
Also read: 7 die in separate accidents in Bagerhat
Another passenger Habibur Rahman and autorickshaw driver Iman Ali are being treated at Kurigram General Hospital.
More than 45 dead after Ida’s remnants blindside Northeast USA
A stunned US East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers and tornado damage Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning at least 46 people in their homes and cars.
In a region that had been warned about potentially deadly flash flooding but hadn’t braced for such a blow from the no-longer-hurricane, the storm killed people from Maryland to Connecticut on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
At least 23 people died in New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said. At least 13 people were killed in New York City, police said, 11 of them in flooded basement apartments, which often serve as relatively affordable homes in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets. Suburban Westchester County reported three deaths.
Also read: Ida remnants pound Northeast with rain, flooding, tornadoes
Officials said at least five people died in Pennsylvania, including one killed by a falling tree and another who drowned in his car after helping his wife to escape. A Connecticut state police sergeant, Brian Mohl, perished after his cruiser was swept away. Another death was reported in Maryland.
Sophy Liu said she tried using towels and garbage bags to stop the water coming into her first-floor New York City apartment, but the flood rose to her chest in just a half hour. She roused her son from bed, put him in a life jacket and inflatable swimming ring and tried to flee, but the door stuck. She called two friends who helped her jar it loose.
“I was obviously scared, but I had to be strong for my son. I had to calm him down,” she recalled Thursday as medical examiners removed three bodies from a home down her Queens street.
In another part of Queens, water rapidly filled Deborah Torres’ first-floor apartment to her knees as her landlord frantically urged her neighbors below — among them a toddler — to get out, she said. But the water rushed in so strongly that she surmised they weren’t able to open the door. The three residents died.
“I have no words,” she said. “How can something like this happen?”
Ida’s soggy remnants merged with a storm front and soaked the Interstate 95 corridor, meteorologists said. Similar weather has followed hurricanes before, but experts said it was slightly exacerbated by climate change — warmer air holds more rain — and urban settings, where expansive pavement prevents water from seeping into the ground.
Also read: Ida collapses Mississippi road; kills 2, injures at least 10
The National Hurricane Center had warned since Tuesday of the potential for “significant and life-threatening flash flooding” and major river flooding in the mid-Atlantic region and New England.
Still, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the storm’s strength took them by surprise.
“We did not know that between 8:50 and 9:50 p.m. last night, that the heavens would literally open up and bring Niagara Falls level of water to the streets of New York,” said Hochul, a Democrat who became governor last week after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned.
De Blasio, also a Democrat, said he’d gotten a forecast Wednesday of 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) of rain for the day. The city’s Central Park ended up getting 3.15 inches in just one hour, surpassing the previous one-hour high of 1.94 inches (5 cm) during Tropical Storm Henri on Aug. 21.
Wednesday’s storm ultimately dumped over 9 inches (23 cm) of rain in parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and nearly as much on New York City’s Staten Island.
In Washington, President Joe Biden assured Northeast residents that federal first responders were on the ground to help clean up.
In New York, nearly 500 vehicles were abandoned on flooded highways, garbage bobbed in streaming streets and water cascaded into the city’s subway tunnels, trapping at least 17 trains and disrupting service all day. Videos online showed riders standing on seats in swamped cars. All were safely evacuated, with police aiding 835 riders and scores of people elsewhere, including a 94-year-old man on a highway, Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said.
At one Queens development, neighbors unsuccessfully tried for an hour to save a 48-year-old woman after water broke through the glass patio door of her basement apartment, trapping her in 6 feet (2 meters) of water.
“She was screaming, ‘Help me, help me, help me!’ We all came to her aid, trying to get her out,” said the building’s assistant superintendent, Jayson Jordan, but “the thrust of the water was so strong.”
Also read: Thousands face weeks without power in Ida’s aftermath
Residents said they have complained for years about flooding on another Queens street, where a woman and her 22-year-old son died in a basement apartment. Her husband and the couple’s other son were spared only because they stepped out to move a car, next-door neighbor Lisa Singh said.
“No one should have to go this way. I feel like this was 100% avoidable,” she said.
Police were still going door-to-door in flooded areas Thursday evening and didn’t have a firm number of unaccounted-for people, Harrison said.
In Elizabeth, New Jersey, rain and river flooding in an apartment complex killed four people and forced 600 from their homes, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said.
Greg Turner, who lives elsewhere in the northern New Jersey city, said his 87-year-old mother started calling 911 when water began rising in her apartment at 8 p.m. He and his brother couldn’t get there because of the deluge.
As midnight approached, the water reached her neck, he said. Rescuers finally cut through the floor of the apartment above and pulled her to safety.
“She lost everything,” Turner said as he headed to a bank for money to buy his mother clothes and shoes.
In New Jersey’s Milford Borough, authorities said they found a man’s body in a car buried up to its hood in dirt and rocks.
The National Weather Service said the ferocious storm also spawned at least 10 tornadoes from Maryland to Massachusetts, including a 150-mph (241 kph) twister that splintered homes and toppled silos in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia.
“It just came through and ripped,” said resident Jeanine Zubrzycki, 33, who hid in her basement with her three children as their house shook and lights flickered.
“And then you could just hear people crying,” said Zubrzycki, 33, whose home was damaged but livable.
Record flooding along the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania inundated homes, highways and commercial buildings, even as meteorologists warned that rivers likely won’t crest for a few more days. The riverside community of Manayunk remained largely under water.
The Schuyilkill reached levels not seen in over 100 years in Philadelphia, where firefighters were still getting calls about minor building collapses and people stuck in flooded cars Thursday morning. The managers of a 941-unit apartment complex near the river ordered residents to evacuate, citing “deteriorating” conditions after water rushed into the parking garage and pool areas.
In suburban Bucks County, several firefighters had to be rescued after floodwaters pinned a rescue boat against a bridge pier, state emergency management director Randy Padfield said.
Others were unable to escape the floods, including Donald Bauer, who was driving home to Perkiomenville with his wife after attending their daughter’s volleyball game at DeSales University, near Allentown.
Their SUV stalled in the water and floated into a house, breaking the back window, said Darby Bauer, who was on the phone with his parents when the engine died. Donald Bauer helped his wife, Katherine, escape out the broken window and urged her to go, their son said.
She clung to a tree and watched the rising waters carry the SUV out of sight, he said. She was rescued about an hour later and hospitalized.
Donald Bauer, a 65-year-old retired school bus driver, “had one of the biggest hearts we knew,” his son said. “He was selfless down to his last act.”
Authorities used boats to rescue people in places from North Kingstown, Rhode Island, to Frederick County, Maryland, where 10 children and a driver were pulled from a school bus.
On Sunday, Ida struck Louisiana as the fifth-strongest storm to ever hit the U.S. mainland, leaving 1 million people without power, maybe for weeks.
Rangamati: 'Shootout between armed groups' leaves farmer dead
A 70-year-old farmer was "shot dead" Monday in Rangamati's Kaptai "during a turf battle between two local armed groups."
The deceased, Thoai Angprugri Marma, was from Kukimara Marma Para of Kaptai upazila.
"Gunshots were heard near ward 3 of Wagga union in Kukimara at 5pm. The farmer was returning from work, taking the Baraichari-Ghagra road at this time. But no one could confirm who was involved in the shootout," Union Parishad member Angsapru Marma said.
READ: 4 UPDF members arrested in Rangamati
Assistant Superintendent of Police (Kaptai Circle) Raushan Ara Rob said the cause of the farmer's death can be determined after an investigation.
Officer-in-Charge of Kaptai Police Station Md Nasir Uddin said the body had been recovered from the spot and kept in police custody. "A case will be filed over the incident."
READ: 3 die as truck falls into river in Rangamati
Covid-19 : Positivity rate reduces further to 14.76 %, 114 more die
Bangladesh logged 114 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours until Wednesday morning amid a steady decline in both cases and positivity rate raising hope for further improvement.
This was for the second consecutive day the number of fatalities stood at 114, the lowest in last two months.The number of fresh Covid cases is also seeing a downtrend as 4,966 people were tested positive during this time compared to 5,249 in the previous day.
READ: UNGA: No scope for side events this time due to Covid-19
The fresh number pushed the country’s total fatalities to 25,627 while the cases reached 1,477,930, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).The country last saw 112 Coronavirus- related deaths on June 29 and the fatalities jumped to 264 on August 5 and 10 when the country was under a strict lockdown.
The latest cases were detected after testing 33,640 samples during the last 24 hours, which reduced the daily case positivity rate to 14.76 % from Tuesday’s 15.12% and Monday’s 15.54 %, said the DGHS.
READ: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Both fatalities and cases drop in 24hrs
The recovery rate rose to 94.02%, but the case fatality remained unchanged at 1.73 % compared to the same period.
Eight more die of Covid in Kushtia
Eight more people have died of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours at Kushtia General Hospital, health officials said on Saturday morning.
All the eight deceased were confirmed Covid patients and had been admitted to the hospital’s Covid unit.
READ: Nine more die of Covid in Kushtia
Kushtia General Hospital official Md Mejbaul Alam said that the number of Covid deaths increased on Saturday as compared to that of Friday but the number of Covid-infected patients have decreased.
As of Saturday morning, the infection rate in Kushtia was 19.08 percent.
READ: Kushtia logs 7 more Covid deaths
So far, 17,165 Covid-19 infected people have been identified in the district, of which 14,478 people have recovered and 693 died.
Bangladesh reports 172 more Covid deaths, 7,248 fresh cases
Bangladesh reported 172 more coronavirus-related deaths and 7,248 fresh infections in 24 hours till Wednesday morning as concern remains over the virulent Delta Variant of the virus.
The country has been seeing fatalities below 200 for the last six days, a slight improvement from the July 25- August 13 period when daily deaths were recorded over 200.
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 24,719 while the cases to 1,440,644, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS)
READ: Bangladesh reports 198 more Covid deaths, 7,535 fresh cases
The new cases were detected after testing 41,014 samples which lowered the case positivity rate to 17.67 % from Tuesday’s 19.18 %, still much higher that the WHO recommendation of bringing it below 5%.
Meanwhile, the case fatality rate increased to 1.72 % after staying unchanged at 1.71% for some days.
READ: Bangladesh again hits record high 264 Covid deaths
Rescuers racing in Haiti as storm threatens to follow quake
The death toll from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti soared on Sunday as rescuers raced to find survivors amid the rubble ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching tropical storm.
Saturday’s earthquake left at least 724 dead and 2,800 injured in the Caribbean island nation, with thousands more displaced from their destroyed or damaged homes. Survivors in some areas were forced to shelter in streets or soccer fields with the few belongings they were able to salvage from their homes.
Yet the devastation could soon worsen with the coming of Tropical Storm Grace, which was predicted to reach Haiti late Monday or early Tuesday, bringing the potential for torrential rain, flooding and landslides. The U.S. National Hurricane Center forecast 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain in Haiti and the Dominican Republican, with up to 15 inches in some southern parts of the island they share.
The earthquake struck the southwestern part of the hemisphere’s poorest nation, almost razing some towns and triggering landslides that hampered rescue efforts. The disaster added to the plight of Haitians who were already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, a presidential assassination and a wave of gang violence.
The epicenter of the quake was about 125 kilometers (78 miles) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Aftershocks continued jolting the area Sunday.
In the badly damaged coastal town of Les Cayes, some families salvaged their few belongings and spent the night at an open-air football pitch. On Sunday morning, people lined up to buy what little was available: bananas, avocados and water at a local street market.
Some in the town praised God for surviving the earthquake, and many went to the city’s cathedral, which appeared outwardly undamaged even if the priests’ residence was destroyed.
“We only have Jesus now,” said Johanne Dorcely, 58, whose house was destroyed. “If it wasn’t for Jesus, I wouldn’t be able to be here today.”Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared a one-month state of emergency for the whole country and said he was rushing aid to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals overwhelmed with patients. A former senator rented a private airplane to move injured people from Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince for medical assistance.
“The most important thing is to recover as many survivors as possible under the rubble,” said Henry. “We have learned that the local hospitals, in particular that of Les Cayes, are overwhelmed with wounded, fractured people.”Sunday’s count from Haiti’s Office of Civil Protection raised the previous death toll from 304 dead. The agency said more than 7,000 homes were destroyed and nearly 5,000 damaged. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches were also affected.
People in Les Cayes tried to pull guests from the rubble of a collapsed hotel, but as the sun set on Saturday, they had only been able to recover the body of a 7-year-old girl whose home was behind the facility.
“I have eight kids, and I was looking for the last one,” Jean-Claude Daniel said through tears. “I will never see her again alive. The earthquake destroyed my life. It took a child away from me.”
Hospitals were overwhelmed at a moment when Haiti has been struggling with the pandemic and a lack of resources to deal with it. The country of 11 million people received its first batch of U.S.-donated coronavirus vaccines only last month via a United Nations program for low-income countries.
The earthquake also struck just over a month after President Jovenel Moïse was shot to death in his home, sending the country into political chaos. His widow, Martine Moïse, who was seriously wounded in the attack, posted a message on Twitter calling for unity among Haitians: “Let’s put our shoulders together to bring solidarity.”
As he boarded a plane bound for Les Cayes, Henry said he wanted “structured solidarity” to ensure the response was coordinated to avoid the confusion that followed the devastating 2010 earthquake, when aid was slow to reach residents after as many as 300,000 Haitians were killed.
U.S. President Joe Biden authorized an immediate response, calling the United State a “close and enduring friend to the people of Haiti.” He named USAID Administrator Samantha Power to oversee the U.S effort to help Haiti.
Power announced Sunday that USAID was sending a search and rescue team from Virginia t the request of Haiti’s government. The 65-person team will bring specialized tools and medical supplies to assist with the disaster response, Power said on Twitter.
Working with USAID, the U.S. Coast Guard said a helicopter was transporting medical personnel from the Haitian capital to the quake zone and evacuating the injured back to Port-au-Prince.
“For now, the Coast Guard is working where the most urgent need is,” said Lt. Commander Jason Nieman, a spokesman. Another helicopter was being sent from the Bahamas, along with other aircraft and ships, Nieman added.
Argentina and Chile also were among the first nations to promise help.
The North Carolina-based aid group Samaritan’s Purse announced Sunday it would airlift 13 disaster response specialists and 31 tons of emergency supplies to Haiti. Those include shelter materials and water filtration units.
Humanitarian workers said gang activity in the seaside district of Martissant, just west of the Haitian capital, also was complicating relief efforts.
“Nobody can travel through the area,” Ndiaga Seck, a UNICEF spokesman in Port-au-Prince, said by phone. “We can only fly over or take another route.”
Seck said information about deaths and damage was slow coming to Port-au-Prince because of spotty internet service, but UNICEF planned to send medical supplies to two hospitals in the south, in Les Cayes and Jeremie.
Haiti, where many live in tenuous circumstances, is vulnerable to earthquakes and hurricanes. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake in 2018 killed more than a dozen people.
13 more die of Covid in Bogura
Another 13 people died of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours in different hospitals of Bogura, officials said Sunday.
Of the deceased five were confirmed Covid patients and eight died with symptoms.
During this time 91 more Covid infected people were identified and infection rate decreased to 16.48 per cent.
READ: Covid claims 15 more lives in Bogura
Bogura Deputy Civil Surgeon Mostafizur Rahman Tuhin said that the infection rate in the district has decreased a bit than that on Saturday.
So far, 622 people have died from the virus in Bogura.
READ: Journalist held under DSA in Bogura
Bayern Munich, former West Germany great Gerd Müller dies
Gerd Müller, the Bayern Munich and former West Germany forward known as “Der Bomber” for his scoring-prowess, has died. He was 75.
The Bavarian club announced his death on Sunday.
Müller scored 566 goals for Bayern between 1964 and 1979, helping the side to four German titles, four German Cup wins and three European Cup victories in that time. He still holds the record for the most goals scored in the Bundesliga with 365, scored in 427 league games.
“Gerd Müller was the greatest striker there’s ever been, and a fine person and character of world football,” Bayern president Herbert Hainer said in a statement posted on the cub’s website. “We’re all united in deep mourning with his wife Uschi as well as his family.”
READ: Brazil soccer fan in Cox’s Bazar takes poison
Bayern announced in October 2015 that Müller has had Alzheimer’s disease for “a long time” and that he had been cared for professionally with the support of his family since the beginning of February that year.
Müller made 607 competitive appearances for Bayern. He was the league’s top-scorer on seven occasions. He was as important to Bayern’s ascent to becoming Germany’s powerhouse as former teammates Franz Beckenbauer and Uli Hoeneß.
Müller’s record of 40 goals scored in the 1971-72 Bundesliga season was only beaten last season, when current Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski scored his 41st in the last minute of the last game.
Müller also helped West Germany win the European Championship in 1972, then the World Cup two years later, when he scored the winning goal in the final against the Netherlands. Altogether he scored 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany. It was a national record only surpassed in 2014 by Miroslav Klose, who needed 129 appearances to match him.
Müller became a youth coach at Bayern after his playing days, working with players such as Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Müller.
READ: Brazil and Argentina clash in a soccer final for 5th time
“His achievements are unrivaled to this day and will forever be a part of the great history of FC Bayern and all of German football,” Bayern chairman Oliver Kahn added in the club statement. “As a player and a person, Gerd Müller stands for FC Bayern and its development into one of the biggest clubs in the world like no other. Gerd will forever be in our hearts.”
Nine more die of Covid in Kushtia
Nine more people have died of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours at Kushtia General Hospital, health officials said Saturday morning.
Of the deceased, eight were confirmed Covid patients while one had symptoms.
Kushtia General Hospital official Md Mejbaul Alam said that the number of Covid patients increased on Friday as compared to that of Thursday.
READ: Kushtia logs 7 more Covid deaths
As of Saturday morning, some 191 patients are being treated at the Covid unit of the hospital.
During this period, some 62 people yrsted positive for Covid of the 292 samples tested samples.
So far, 16,735 Covid-19 infected people have been identified in the district, of which 13,264 people have recovered and 662 died.
READ: Covid-19: 15 more die in Kushtia