The fatal stampede in Chittagong during a funeral rite for former mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury happened as the crowd swelled out of control, say police.
They have also identified construction glitch at the entrance to the community centre where the tragedy took place. “No other factors have been found. The huge crowd and the construction glitch
at the community centre’s entrance caused the stampede,” Assistant Commissioner Jahangir Alam of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police told bdnews24.com on Tuesday. Ten people died and several others were injured on Monday at a community centre in the port city’s Jamal Khan area. Mohiuddin Chowdhury, who was the Chittagong Metropolitan Awami League chief and had served the city corporation for 16 years, died on Friday at the age of 73.
The passing of the populist politician had cast a pall on Chittagong. On Monday, the funeral rite of Qulkhwani was arranged at 13 venues across the city. One of the venues was Rima Community Centre, the site for the stampede, where organisers were serving non-beef dishes, mostly for the Hindus.
The disaster struck at the two-storey building’s entrance, said witness Anup Das, who also went to attend the event. With the crowd swelling out of control, people jostled for space on the ramp outside the gate forcing some visitors to fall, only to be trampled on by those behind, he told bdnews24.com.
Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Iqbal Bahar provided a similar account while speaking to the media on Monday.
