United News of Bangladesh

At least 13 unions and one municipality in Sunamganj’s Chatak upazila have been inundated by floodwater as of Wednesday, leaving around two lakh people stranded. Several hundred houses, more than 200 educational institutions and at least 100 fish enclosures went under water in recent days.  Various parts of Gobindaganj-Chhatak highway has been inundated too.  The Surma, The Chela and The Piyain rivers continue to swell due to heavy showers and onrush of water from the upstream.  Road communication between Chhatak  and other parts of the country has been snapped to the recent flooding.  Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Chhatak upazila Mamunur Rahman, more than one hundred people have taken shelter government shelter centers.  READ: 50,000 people marooned by flood in parts of Kurigram Berajpur, Noapara, Alampur, Bilpar, Dashghar, Krishnanagar, Anondonagar, Bagain, Lakshmipur, Gabindanagar and Mohonpur areas of the upazila are the worst affected areas. Berajpur Government Primary School Headmaster Manik Mia said that floodwater has destroyed important documents of his school.  “We’ve used a boat to shift the documents from the ground floor of the school to another floor,” said Manik. According to information provided by the Water Development Board (WDB) of the district, water of the Surma river at Chhatak point was flowing above the danger mark Wednesday noon.  “A total of four schools have been declared as shelters. The upazila administration is providing dry food to the people living in the shelters,” said Mamunur.   

Seven people were killed in four separate road accidents in Chattogram and Feni districts on Wednesday. Two people, including a child, were killed and three others injured in a  road accident near Putibila union parishad of Chattogram’s Lohagara upazila around 12:45pm. The deceased were identified as Md Tauhid, 25, son of Abul Kashem of Putibila area and Marium Jannat, 7, daughter of Md Ridwan  of Adhunagar Majhi Para area of the upazila. According to Officer-in-charge (OC) of Lohagara police station Mohammad Atiqur Rahman,  a collision  among a motorcycle, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw and a dumping truck left the two dead on the spot. “The dumping  truck has been seized,” he added. Two people were killed as an unknown vehicle hit a  motorcycle in front of Kalka CNG station under Chattogram city’s Pahartoli police station around 2:30pm. The identities of the deceased could not be known yet. A woman was killed when an unidentified vehicle knocked her at Jorarganj beside Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Chattogram’s Mirsarai upazila around 10:30am, said in-charge of Jorarganj Highway police station sub-inspector (SI) Alamgir Hossain. The deceased was Rehana Akter, 40, wife of Md Jashimuddin  of South Sonapahar area of the upazila.      Two people , including a madrassah student, were killed when a bus rammed into a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Gobindapur Chaltatola on Sonagazi-Feni regional highway around 10:00 am. Read: 2,329 killed in 2,159 road accidents over 6 months: SCRF report The deceased were identified as Md Nuruzzaman, 30, son of Abul Kalam of Feni Sdadar and Sharmin, 15, daughter of Mizanur Rahman of North Gobindapur area under Kalidaha union of the district. Nuruzzaman died on the spot while Sharmin died on her way to a hospital in Chattogram. According to the police, the accident occurred when a bus lost control after one its front side tyres got punctured and collided with a CNG-run autorickshaw. Officer In-charge of Feni model police station Abdur Rahim said that the bodies have been sent to Feni General Hospital.   Besides, the bus and the CNG-run auto-rickshaw have also been seized, he added.  

The fire that broke out at a readymade garment factory on Wednesday morning at Chandona Chowrasta in Gazipur has been doused completely, officials said. The fire started around 7.40 am on the 4th floor of a 7-story building of Apparels Plus Limited and soon engulfed the floor. Read: Environmental disaster feared following Sitakunda depot fire "After four hours effort, four firefighting units managed to douse the flames completely," said Shahjahan Shikder, deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters. However, the reason behind the fire and extent of losses could not be known immediately. No casualties were reported, he added.  

Two people were killed and another two injured as a stone-laden truck hit a three-wheeler near Kerhat Forest Office area of Mirsarai in Chattogram on Tuesday. The deceased were three-wheeler passenger Md Rubel, 30, resident of Gheramara village of Karerhat union and three-wheeler driver Md. Yusuf, 26, of the same union. The accident occurred at around 1.30 pm in Gheramara area of the union. Also Read: Van driver killed in Kushtia road accident Sub-inspector (SI) of Jorarganj Police Station Sufal Chandra said that two people died on the spot when a mini-truck loaded with stones hit a three-wheeler. Two people injured in the accident were sent to the hospital. One of them is in a critical condition, he said. Police seized the truck and the three-wheeler but the truck driver managed to flee, he added.  

A flood-like situation has been prevailing at Kurigram’s Roumari upazila for the past one week. “Water is everywhere. Can’t move anywhere as going out means additional costs. Flood has exacerbated my already prevailing sufferings to a great extent,” said Nojir Hossain, a day laborer from Kheyarchar village under Jadurchar union of the upazila. Flooding has swept across five unions of Kurigram’s Roumari and Rajibpur upazila due to the swelling of Jinjiram, Kalo and Dharani rivers that flow directly from India. Although flood water has affected the east side of the Dhaka-Roumari highway, the west side of the highway, through which Brahmaputra, Holholiya and Sonabhori rivers run, has remained unaffected due to low water levels in the respective rivers. According to the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Roumari upazila Md Ashraful Alam Rasel, at least 50,000 people from a total of 45 villages under the five unions have become stranded due to the flooding. “Around 30 km road networks have gone under water. A total of 32 educational institutions have been shut down. Besides, crops cultivated in 283 hectares of land have been totally damaged,” added Rasel. Rasel mentioned that the upazila administration has provided Tk 300,000 for buying emergency relief items including flattened rice, parched rice, sugar, salt, and candles. The items will be distributed among the flood victims soon. Read: Flood in Kurigram getting worse “Although floodwater hasn’t entered our house, it has destroyed all the vegetables that we had cultivated in our yard. Now we’ll have to buy vegetables from the bazaar, which will result in increased living costs. This is happening at a time when my husband can’t even go out to search for work due to the flooding,” said Nazma Begum, a housewife from Bokbandha Beparipara village. Nazrul Islam, Member of Kheyarchar ward no 1, said that floodwater has inundated more than 600 houses in his area. “Besides, the flood victims of my constituency haven’t received any relief item yet,” added Nazrul. According to Roumari Upazila Parishad Chairman Sheikh Abdullah, the public representatives of the area have been instructed to prepare a list of the flood-affected people. “Around 5,000-6,000 workers of the Roumari Land Port have become jobless due to the flooding. I’ve requested the district administration so that they can receive help from the government,” added Abdullah.

The bodies of three people who went missing after a boat capsized in Itna Haor of Kishoreganj Monday afternoon have been recovered. Read: Couple drowns in boat capsize in Titas River, minor girl missing The deceased were identified as Siraj Uddin, 60, of Halgarh village in Karimganj upazila, Wasim, 35, of Itna upazila and Md. Masud, 25, son of Md. Mostafa of Damiha union of Tarail upazila.The engine-driven boat with five people on board was heading towards Dhanpur in Itna Upazila from the Damiha area of ​​Tarail Upazila, said Mushfiqur Rahman, assistant station officer of Itna Fire Service. The boat sank amid storm in the middle of Sahila-Dhanpur Haor in Itna upazila in the afternoon. Read: One drowns, another missing in boat capsize in Chandpur Two passengers of the boat managed to swim ashore but three others went missing, he said. A team of divers of Itna Fire service started the rescue operation around 7am on Tuesday and recovered the bodies around 9:30 am, the fire service official said.

A 17-year old boy died falling from a moving train while taking a selfie  in Chuadanga. The deceased was identified as Rohan, 17 , a student of class X and  son of Rayhan Hossain of Paschimpara village in Jibannagar upazila, said  Mohammad Abdul Khaleque, Officer-in-Charge of Jibannagar police station. The accident occurred around 5:30 pm near Farm Para area in Chuadanga municipality area, he said. Also read: Fire on moving train: Dhaka-Sylhet rail communication restored after 3 hours Rohan was at the door of Khulna-bound Goalanda mail train. He slipped from the running train  while trying to take a selfie, according to witnesses. Locals immediately brought him to Chuadanga Sadar hospital with a critical head and left leg injuries, said Dr Nurjahan Rumi, a doctor of the hospital. Rohan succumbed to his injuries around 10:30 pm while shifting to a Dhaka hospital, said Sabed Ali, his uncle. Also read: Train crushes school student in Dinajpur

Hanging body of a 13-year old boy was recovered from  Beanibazar municipality who was playing the Blue Whale game in his tab just before his death, said police. The deceased was identified as Ahmad Al Abi, 13, a student of class seven and son of Noman Ahmed, member of executive committee of upazila Awami League, said Hillol Ray, Officer-in-Charge of Beanibazar police station. The body was recovered around 11 pm on Sunday from Abi’s residence at Sridhara village, he said. READ: Teenage boy ‘kills self’ in Sylhet The family members called police when Abi was not responding as they found the gate locked from inside after returning from visiting a relative, said police. “Police found the boy’s body hanging from ceiling and he was wearing his sister’s salwar kameez,” he said. His tab and a piece of paper with 302 written on it was recovered from his room, said the OC. The reason of committing suicide can be confirmed after investigation and postmortem, he said.  “Blue Whale challenge" was reported to be an online "suicide game" aimed at teenagers which set 50 tasks over 50 days. Several suicides in the country and across the globe were linked with the game before.

At least 20 people were injured in a clash between the locals of Narayanganj’s Siddhirganj and police, over arresting 36 people for attacking a sub inspector of police.Residents of Adamjee Bihari Camp surrounded the Siddhirganj police station on Monday morning.Eyewitnesses said protestors have also blocked the Narayanganj-Adamjee-Chittagong road since morning, causing huge traffic in the area.The protestors obstructed the movement of vehicles and threw brickbats at the police officers when they tried to remove them from the road, leading to a chase and counter-chase. Also read: Bhola Clash: 20 including 7 cops injuredAfter that, the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the locals to bring the situation under control.In the early hours of Monday, police arrested 36 people in connection with the attack on Siddhirganj police station Sub Inspector (SI) Syed Azizul Haque.However, Bihari camp chairman Liaquat Hossain claimed that police conducted raids inside the camp on Sunday night and beat up many men and women. "Police also arrested those who were not in the attack."On Friday, hundreds of Muslims protested over the recent anti-Islam remarks by BJP leaders in India after Jumma prayers. However, the protesters alleged that the police interrupted them from participating in the demonstration.At that time, locals launched an attack where SI Syed Azizul Haque was injured. Also read: 20 injured in clash over land dispute in SylhetLater, Mirza Shahidul Islam, sub-inspector of Siddhirganj police filed a case in this connection.

Two people were killed and four others injured when a truck hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Omarpur Bus Stand in Nandigram municipality area of Bogura district on Monday, said police. Also read: 'Puja's Birthday today' laments father of BAEC official killed in Savar road crash The deceased were identified as Abdul Khalek, 65, and Md Babul Mia, 50, of the upazila. The accident occurred around 11 am when the truck hit the CNG run auto-rickshaw carrying five people, leaving two killed on the spot and four others injured, said Tariqul Islam, sub-inspector of Nandigram Police Station. Also read: Mother, daughter killed in Kushtia road crash The injured were taken to a local hospital.