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Download PDF Six UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed and 11 others seriously injured in a road accident in Ivory Coast on Friday hours after they reached the West African state for duty.
A truck carrying the soldiers crashed at Tiasali, some 125km off Ivory Coast capital Yamoussoukro, and veered into a roadside ditch at around 5:30pm local time (11:30pm Bangladesh time), said the director of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The deceased are lance corporal SM Miraz Ahmed (20 Field Regiment, Artillery) hailing from village Kanudeshkathi in Rajapur upazila under Jhalakathi district, lance corporal M Abdus Sattar (6 Field Regiment, Artillery) hailing from village Dariapur in Chapainawabganj upazila under the district, soldier Abdul Halim (27 Field Regiment, Artillery) hailing from village Bara Chaisuti in Kuliarchar upazila under Kishoreganj district, soldier Mohammad Kamruzzaman Khan (36 Air Defence Regiment, Artillery) of village Bamutia in Chandina upazila under Comilla district, soldier Mohammad Shahid Mia (32 Field Regiment, Artillery) of village Shatra in Kulaura upazila under Moulvibazar district and soldier M Mizanur Rahman (24 Field Regiment, Artillery) of village Bhakutia under Jessore district.
The injured, one in a critical state, are undergoing treatment at a local hospital, said an ISPR press release.
The UN is preparing to send the bodies of six deceased to Bangladesh, ISPR director said.
On the way, the driver of one of the trucks lost control and the accident occurred, causing death of five on the spot and another at a local hospital, the ISPR director said.
Immediately after the accident, UN peacekeepers in three other trucks took the dead and injured to a local hospital, he said.
A group of 80 Bangladeshi peacekeepers left the country on Friday and reached the former French colony the same day to join a UN peacekeeping mission. In four military trucks, they started from Yamoussoukro for Abidjan, 250 km away, sources in Bangladesh Army said.
“They had just arrived the same day and they were travelling to where they had been posted in Abidjan,” reports Reuters quoting UN military spokesman Colonel Omar El Khadir. “We don’t know what the cause of the accident was. An inquiry is under way,” Omar said.
Nearly 3,000 Bangladeshi soldiers are working with the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast, sources in Bangladesh Army said, adding that around 10,000 Bangladeshis are working in 12 UN missions worldwide.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday expressed deep shock at the death of six Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Ivory Coast, reports BSS.
She conveyed deep sympathy for the members of the bereaved families.
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