Staff Reporter :
Six persons, including five Madrasa students were killed and another was injured in a landslide while extracting stones with an aim to collect fund for a waz mahfil (an Islamic religious sermon delivering function) he added at Lovachara area in Kanaighat upazila of Sylhet district on Tuesday morning.
The deceased have been identified as Nahid, 12, and his brother Shakil, 13, sons of Almas Uddin, Maruf, 13, son of Mosabbir Ali, and his cousin Zakir, 16, son of Yunus Ali, Abdul Quadir, son of Ana Mia, and Sundar Ali, son of Abdul Bari. They all hailed from Kandola Konapara village.
The victims except Sundar Ali, were students of Daukergul Nesarul Quaran Hafizia Madrasa.
Abdul Ahad, Officer-in-Charge of Kanaighat Police Station, said, “Hearing the news, police rushed to Lovachora Stone Quarry at around 08:45am.
Local Sand Trader Association General Secretary Fakhrul Islam said that a group of students went to the abandoned quarry illegally to collect stones.
Their aim was to collect fund for a waz mahfil, he said.
A police team was sent to Bangla Tila area where the landslide took place reportedly
Purbo Laxmiprashad Union member Abbas Ali said that they went there to collect stones without safety measure.
They died in the landslide during illegal extraction of stones, he said.
However, Lovachora is a bordering area from Kanaighat Upazilla in the eastern part of Sylhet district, which is somewhat fortified from northeast to northwest by the Meghalayan ranges. It is essentially a quarry where stones and boulders are mined, besides an age-old tea garden.
