DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) – A stampede killed 21 elderly women and four young people early Friday when hundreds of people in central Bangladesh stormed the home of a businessman for a charity handout during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, police said.
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Images of hundreds of torn and blood-spattered sandals abandoned at the gate of the chewing tobacco have been circulated by TV.
There are scopes of informing officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station concerned or police super at least one day before the scheduled programme for seeking help, the AIG said quoting the police chief. Local media said scores of people had been injured.
“We have handed over 25 bodies to the relatives”, Islam said.
Ambia Begum, 50, who had come to collect charity, alleged that workers of businessman’s factory had swooped on them with batons.
“Oh Allah, why did I come here?”
“Some people had taken the bodies of their relatives before police arrived at the scene”, he said. In most cases, the victims’ families withdraw the lawsuits after getting compensation. Television footage showed relatives rushing through the entrance and corridors, cradling lifeless bodies in their arms.
Mohammad Robiul, a rickshaw-puller, lost his wife in the tragedy.
The stampede occurred when many tried to force their way in, the reoprts said.
“Many fell on the ground and others ran over them, and they died”.
People killed during the distribution of Zakat is not a new issue in our country.
The ministry of religious affairs has announced a donation of 10,000 taka (about $129) to each victim’s family.
Six people including the businessman behind the offer marking the Muslim month of Ramadan have been arrested, suspected of failing to ensure security.
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Revising the previous deadtoll, District Chief Administrator Mustakim Billah Faruqui told dpa that the deadtoll had increased by one.
