Staff Reporter :
At least 10 women died and 50 others hurt in a stampede while collecting iftar items and zakat at Ghatiadanga village in Satkania upazila of Chattogram district on Monday morning.
Hundreds of women from nearby villages gathered from surrounding areas to collect zakat and iftar items ahead of Ramzan from Md. Shahjahan, Chairmen of Kabir Steel Re-rolling Mills (KSRM) from Sunday night.
Of the deceased, nine women were identified as Hasina Akhtar, 35, Rina Begum, 32, Saki, 22, Rashida Akhtar, 54, Tuntuni Begum, 15, Noorjahan, 18, Jostna Akhtar, 50, Anwara Begum, 60 and Noor Aysha, 60.
However the identifies of a deceased could not be know immediately, reports our local correspondent quoting Chattogram district said Chattogram Additional Superintendent of Police (South) Emran Bhuiyan.
Mentionable that eight people were killed in a stampede on October 7, 2005 while trying to collect zakat from the KSRM owner at Nalua Union Parishad in the upazila.
Witnesses said, around 30,000 to 40,000 people gathered to get pre-announced 20,000 packets of items which were donated by Md Shahjahan, Proprietor of Kabir Group of Industries.
People from different upazilas of Chattogram, Cox’s Bazaar districts gathered at Kaderia Moinul Ulum Dakhil Madrasa field at Ghatiadanga village to collect iftar and Zakat. Ten of the people were killed by heatstroke while the locals turned their death as stampede due to mismanagement, said local UP chairman Taslima Akter.
“Nine of the victims died on the spot while another breathed her last at Satkania Upazila Health Complex, our Chittagong correspondent reports quoting Superintendent of Chittagong Police Nur-e-Alam Mina.
The primary cause of the death might be heatstroke while one or two of them might have died in a stampede, the SP said.
Almost all the women gathered at Ghatiadanga village to collect iftar essentials were in ‘burqas’, he said. KSRM Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Md Meherul Karim said that the company’s MD Shahjahan was present at the scene to distribute the iftar items. Packets of chickpeas, semai, sugar, onions and various other foodstuffs had been prepared for 20,000 people.
“Usually zakat and iftar items are only given to residents of this village. But this year people from nearby villages came, inflating the crowd.
