Staff Reporter :Five devotees died in separate incidents at Tongi in Gazipur on Friday, the first day of the second phase of the Biswa Ijtema.The deceased, identified as Nur-e-Alam, 65, from Begumganj upazila in Noakhali district, died at No. 22 ‘Khittah’ (marked area for each district), Abdur Rab Sheikh, 70, from Fakirhatkhula in Gopalganj sadar upazila; and Abdul Latif, 75, a resident of Debidwar upazila in Comilla district, died at No. 13 ‘Khittah’, while according to a delayed report, another devotee, Tojam Sardar, 72, hailing from Shalikha upazila of Maguradistrict, died in the Ijtema ground on Thursday. Nur-e-Alam, Latif and Tojam died of old age complications while Abdur Rab died of cardiac problem.Hedayet Ullah, 70, from Noakhali Sadar upazila, was killed on the spot near the Ijtema venue when a speedy truck crashed into him on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway around 9:30 AM on Friday.Police sent the body to Tongi 50-bed hospital morgue for autopsy. The second phase of Biswa Ijtema got underway on Friday morning in presence of tens of thousands of devotees of on the bank of the Turag River at Tongi on the outskirts of the capital.
