BANGLADESH: At least 31 people were killed and many others injured yesterday in a stampede in northwestern Bangladesh as thousands of poor gathered to receive a Ramadan gift, police said.
District administrative chief Mr Mohammad Abdus Sabur said 31 people were killed in the stampede in Gaibandha, 120 miles from Dhaka.
However, private television channels put the death toll at 42.
Several thousand people had gathered to collect clothes and money as part of an Islamic tradition in which rich Muslims give to the poor ahead of Eid-al-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Local reports said the crowd was asked to go to a nearby open space to receive clothes from local businessman Mr Abdul Wahid, who owns the Nahid Cotton Mills.
Mr Sabur told local reporters that thousands were trying to get through a narrow passage.
Police said they had detained two people for questioning, including Mr Wahid's younger brother.
Prime Minister Ms Khaleda Zia, currently on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, ordered a committee to be set up to investigate the incident and conveyed her sympathies to the bereaved families, the official BSS news agency said.
It was not the first time stampedes during Ramadan have proved fatal. In 1987, five people died in a similar incident in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong, while 11 were killed in 1989, prompting police appeals to people to take extra care when distributing clothes and money. - (AFP)