United News of Bangladesh

More than 50 people were injured in a clash between two groups over a football match in Galachipa upazila of Patuakhali on Thursday. According to locals and police, a quarterfinal match between South Kalikapur United and Mativanga Challenge XI was underway at the Kalikapur Government Primary School ground under Sadar union. About 10 minutes before the end of the match around 5:30pm, South Kalikapur scored a goal, prompting the opposing team to allege a foul and argue with the referee. At one stage, an altercation broke out between players of the two teams and soon turned into a clash. Local people later joined the fray. The clash later spread across the upazila headquarters, with those involved taking to the streets carrying locally made weapons, according to locals. Over 50 people from both groups were injured during the melee. They received treatment at various hospitals. Later, police brought the situation under control, said Galachipa Police Station Officer-in-Charge Moniruzzaman. He said they arrested one person in connection with the incident.

Ferry services on the Dhawapara-Nazirganj river route in Rajbari district have remained suspended for 11 days due to strong currents in the Padma River, forcing vehicles to take a long detour via the Lalon Shah Bridge in Kushtia. With no ferry service available, passengers are crossing the turbulent river by engine-run trawlers and speedboats, amid allegations of charging higher fares. According to the Aricha office of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), ferry operations on the route were suspended on the night of September 6 as the strong current made it impossible for the ferry to travel from Dhawapara to Nazirganj. The ferry, carrying vehicles waiting at Dhawapara, tried for several hours to move against the current but failed. Later it was anchored at Dhawapara ghat. Two medium-sized ferries, Camelia and Kopoti, used to operate on the route. Kopoti has remained out of service since July 23 due to engine problems, while Camelia, the only operational ferry, was suspended after the evening of September 6. Rabiul Haque, second master of Camelia, said the distance between Dhowapara and Nazirganj is around seven kilometres. Ferry operations had been hampered for about one and a half months due to the rise in water level of Padma River, he said. “During the monsoon, it takes about one to one-and-a-quarter hours to travel from Nazirganj to Dhawapara. But travelling from Dhawapara to Nazirganj against the current takes around three to three-and-a-quarter hours,” he said. The ferry reached Dhawapara around 9:30pm on September 6 with 10 vehicles after leaving Nazirganj at around 8:30pm. After unloading, it left Dhawapara around 10:30pm with 13 waiting vehicles for Nazirganj. However, despite trying for nearly three and a half hours, it could hardly make any progress against the current. He said the engine came under heavy pressure, creating a risk of fire, and the ferry was suspended after consultations with the authorities. Meanwhile, passengers have alleged that trawler and speedboat operators are charging higher fares following the suspension of ferry services. Nasir Uddin, a businessman at Belgachhi Bazar in Rajbari, said the regular trawler fare from Nazirganj to Dhawapara is Tk 50, but passengers are now being charged Tk 70. He said the fare from Dhawapara to Nazirganj is Tk 80, with an additional Tk 5 entry fee, while speedboats are charging Tk 150 per passenger for the roughly seven-kilometre journey. Trawler operator Abdul Jabbar Sardar said there is no lease arrangement at Nazirganj ghat, and passengers are normally charged Tk 50. The fare has now been increased to Tk 70 due to the suspension of ferry services. He said Dhawapara ghat is leased, so passengers are charged Tk 80 along with Tk 5 as BIWTA toll, totalling Tk 85. “There is no additional fare being charged here,” he said. Rabiul Islam, assistant manager (commercial) in charge of the BIWTC Dhawapara ghat, said ferry operations had been suspended since the night of September 6 as the vessel could not operate against the strong current. Around 150 to 200 vehicles used to cross the route every day, he said. A ferry named Kadam was scheduled to arrive from the Roumari-Chilmari route, but it could not be brought in as the intensity of the current increased further. “There is no alternative but to keep the ferry service suspended until the current subsides,” he said.

Eighteen Bangladeshi women, men and children returned home through Benapole on Wednesday after serving jail terms in India. Indian Petrapole immigration police handed them over to Bangladeshi authorities at around 5pm under special travel permits. The returnees include six men, nine women and three children from Jashore, Khulna, Panchagarh, Satkhira, Thakurgaon, Gopalganj, Barishal, Narsingdi, Chattogram, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat. Benapole Immigration Police Officer-in-Charge Saifur Rahman said they had illegally crossed into India at different times after being lured by brokers with promises of jobs. They were arrested while working in households and farms in Kolkata and later sentenced to jail terms ranging from six months to three years or more for illegal entry. Among them, Anju Begum spent 15 years in an Indian prison. After completing their sentences, a Kolkata-based human rights organisation kept them at a shelter home. They returned home with the cooperation of the two countries' embassies and special travel permits issued by the Indian government. Following immigration formalities, the returnees were handed over to Benapole Port Police Station. Human rights organisation Justice and Care later took them into its care and will reunite them with their families. Anju Begum said she was happy to return to Bangladesh after 15 years. “Bangladesh is my motherland. I cannot remember how I went to India. I am very happy to be back home. I want to spend the rest of my life in Bangladesh,” she said. Justice and Care Senior Programme Officer Muhit Hossain said the organisation was keeping the returnees at its shelter home before handing them over to their respective families.

State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief M Iqbal Hossain on Wednesday said an investigation is underway into the fire at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and steps will be taken to address the hospital’s existing problems after receiving the probe report. “An investigation into the fire was underway and details would be known after getting the probe report. Steps would be taken in the future to address the hospital’s existing problems,” he said while visiting the hospital on Wednesday morning. Upon arriving at the hospital, the state minister held a meeting in the conference room. The management committee chairman and vice-chairman of the hospital were briefed about the hospital’s overall activities, problems and various challenges. Hospital Management Committee Vice-Chairman and Mymensingh Sadar MP Abu Wahab Akanda, Deputy Director of the hospital Dr Md Zakiul Islam, President of District Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui and Fire Service Deputy Director Purnachandra Mutsuddi, among others, were present during the visit. Responding to a question, Abu Wahab Akanda said no one died after being trampled during the fire incident. He said those who died had died of natural causes. Meanwhile, the hospital authorities have reconstituted the investigation committee formed to probe the fire. The previous five-member committee was dissolved and a new six-member committee was formed with Professor Dr Golam Rahman Bhuiyan of the Department of Medicine as its head and Assistant Director Dr Main Uddin Khan as member-secretary. Deputy Director of the hospital, Dr Zakiul said a five-member committee had initially been formed on the night of the incident. It was later dissolved and a six-member committee was reconstituted on Wednesday, dropping two members of the previous committee and adding two new members. The other members of the new committee are Associate Professor Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun of the Department of Surgery at Mymensingh Medical College, Dental Surgeon Dr Khandaker Muhammad Anwar Hossain, Executive Engineer of the Electricity Department Subrata Roy and Fire Service Deputy Director Purnachandra Mutsuddi. The committee has been asked to submit its report within three working days, identifying the cause of the fire. It also asked to determine whether there was any negligence on the part of the authorities and assessing the damage caused by the fire. Earlier on Monday, six people were killed when a fire orginated from a lift in the hospital’s new building broke out around 5:45pm.

A 25-year-old Bangladeshi man died reportedly after suffering a head injury while rushing down stairs amid a missile alert in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, early Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Saurav Islam, son of Amir Islam of Musapur village under Raipura upazila in Narsingdi. According to his family members, Saurav was on the rooftop of the house where he lived in Jeddah. Panic gripped him after seeing a missile reportedly approaching the city from Yemen on his mobile phone, and he hurriedly tried to come down the stairs. At one stage, a rope reportedly got entangled around one of his feet, causing him to fall and suffer a severe head injury. He bled profusely. His co-workers later found him lying in a pool of blood after waking up in the morning. Local police recovered the body, and legal proceedings are underway, Bangladeshi expatriates said. Saurav had been working as a tea boy at a bank in Jeddah for about five years, according to his relatives. The family came to know about his death in the afternoon when one of his co-workers in Saudi Arabia contacted them over the phone. Saurav was the only son of his parents. His mother Renu Begum has reportedly been fainting since learning of his death. The parents said they want to see their son one last time and bury him with their own hands. They appealed to the government to take steps to bring Saurav’s body back to Bangladesh as soon as possible. The sudden death has cast a pall of grief over the village. Raipura Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Masud Rana said he heard about the incident, but no one has contacted the administration yet. “If they contact us, necessary assistance will be provided,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner (Gulshan Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) M Tanvir Ahmed and Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Gulshan Model Police Station Daud Hossain have been withdrawn and attached to the DMP headquarters. The DMP headquarters issued separate office orders in this regard on Wednesday. According to the orders, the decisions were taken for administrative reasons. The punitive action against the DC and OC came five days after leaders and activists of the Awami League, which faces a ban on its activities, brought out a procession in the Gulshan area of Dhaka on September 11.

Four police personnel were arrested from a gambling spot in an abandoned tin-shed building near the office of the superintendent of police (SP) of Thakurgaon early Tuesday. The arrestees are Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASI) Md Shahadat Zaman, 39, and Shanti Kumar Roy, 37, and constables Md Sohel Rana, 33, and Alamgir Kabir, 33. The latter three were serving at the Thakurgaon SP office, while the former was posted at Sadar Police Outpost. Two others who were allegedly involved in the gambling fled the scene during the raid. They are Panchagarh district police Assistant Traffic SI Md Ataur Rahman, 40, and Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Thakurgaon constable Md Shahidul Islam, 38. Police said they raided the den at Holpara around 1:30am following a tip-off. Those present tried to leave after sensing the presence of the law enforcers, leading to a scuffle as police tried to stop them. Additional SP (Sadar Circle) Jewel Rana was injured during the incident, according to police. Police seized playing cards, cash and several smartphones from the spot, along with four motorcycles nearby. A case was filed with Sadar Police Station in this regard. Additional SP (Administration and Finance) Md Khodadad Hossain said police have been conducting regular drives against drugs and gambling. “We had been receiving information for several days that some of our police personnel had become involved in gambling. While verifying the information, they were caught red-handed,” he said. He said the same legal action will be taken against the police personnel as against ordinary offenders.

A 55-year-old trader was killed after a gas cylinder fell on his head from a multi-storey building in the capital’s Kamrangirchar area on Tuesday night. The deceased was identified as Jamal, a resident of the Noorbagh area. The gas cylinder fell onto the tin roof of their home and then struck Jamal on the head around 9pm while he was standing in front of a house in Old Police Outpost Lane at Noorbagh, leaving him injured, said Inspector Habibur Rahman, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp. Later, he was taken the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead around 10pm.

Police recovered the dismembered body of a schoolgirl stuffed in a sack from a pond near her home in Sadar upazila on Wednesday, seven days after she went missing. The deceased was identified as Kamrunnahar Koli, 10, daughter of Kamal Pramanik of Dogachhi Kulonia village in the upazila. She was a third-grade student of Kulonia Al-Falah Academy. Pabna Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Tariqul Islam said locals spotted a sack containing a body in the pond and informed them. Later, police recovered the body which was identified as Koli’s by her relatives. Family members said  Koli went to the local Sreepur market with her father on the evening of Sept 9. After returning home from the market, she handed the shopping bags to her mother and went outside near their house. When she did not return home by evening, family members began searching for her in nearby areas. Koli’s father filed a general diary (GD) with Pabna Sadar Police Station. On Tuesday, Koli’s relatives and classmates held a procession and formed a human chain in Pabna town demanding her recovery.  OC Tariqul Islam said they are investigating how the child died and who was involved. “We hope to uncover the mystery and identify those responsible very soon,” he said.

Three children drowned in separate incidents in Faridganj and Hajiganj upazilas of Chandpur on Tuesday. In Faridganj, A Rahman, 3-year old son of school teacher Abdul Kader of Sokdirampur village, drowned in a pond beside his father’s school while playing around 10am. While his father was taking a class, the child was playing on the school veranda, as he usually did. At one point, he apparently went unnoticed and fell into the pond. Locals rescued the child and rushed him to the upazila government hospital, where an on-duty doctor declared him dead. His mother, Ayesha Begum, died of cancer three months ago. Meanwhile, in Hajiganj, five-year-old Samad, son of Mamun Molla, drowned in a pond at Molla Bari in the Aliganj area around 8am. Later in the afternoon, two-and-a-half-year-old Mozahid, son of Habib Molla, drowned after falling into a pond while playing at Molla Bari in Madhya Sanna under Bakila Union of the same upazila. Samad and Mozahid were taken to nearby upazila health complexes where on-duty doctors declared them dead. Hajiganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge A Mannan said the bodies were handed over to the families. According to Unicef, drowning stands as one of the leading causes of death among children under five in the country. Some 14,000 young lives are lost each year—many during the monsoon, when the landscape becomes a dangerous playground. Every day, an average of 40 children drown—lives with potential, laughter, and love—all extinguished in moments that could have been averted.