Archive for February 27th, 2007
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007Three people died and at least 50 were injured as a devastating fire swept through the 11-storey Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) Bhaban in the city's Karwan Bazar yesterday morning.Over a thousand people were evacuated as massive rescue efforts including the first-ever airborne rescue operation went on throughout the day.According to witnesses and employees of offices in the building, the fire might have originated in one of two offices--Bengal Carpet or Jamuna Oil Company Ltd--on the first floor around 10:10am.It soon spread to other floors due to the absence of effective fire extinguishers.The home ministry formed a ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday said they arrested Sonali Bank trade union leader BM Bakir Hossain along with his two associates while joint forces made three arrests -- the CBA president of Jalalabad Gas, a close aide to former post and telecommunications minister of the immediate past alliance government and the chairman of MGH Group.The forces also seized 1,032 corrugated iron (CI) sheets mostly from BNP leaders and activists' houses.Meanwhile, a home ministry press release said the armed forces arrested 57 people including 21 criminals while police and Rab arrested 1,569 including 20 convicts and 807 wanted criminals in 24 ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007The government is going to promulgate an anti-terrorism ordinance to hold trial for criminal offences within six months through special tribunals.The law ministry has already drafted the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 2007 that defines terrorists, terrorist acts, terrorist organisations and prescribes punishments including death sentence and life imprisonment.The government will temporarily forfeit wealth of criminals charged with non-bailable offences, sources said quoting from the draft ordinance.The forfeiture will continue in case of their conviction by court.Those who will finance terrorist groups will also be tried under the ordinance. The minimum punishment under it will be a five-year jail term.The draft will ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007Five graft suspects including two former ministers, a lawmaker and a bureaucrat arrested on the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) office premises on Sunday were sent to jail yesterday with their bail prayers rejected.The five arrestees are former housing and public works minister and BNP leader Mirza Abbas, former civil aviation and tourism minister and AL leader Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, ex-lawmaker from the BNP Hafiz Ibrahim, former power secretary ANH Akhtar Hossain and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Ward Commissioner Abdul Qayyum.Four of them -- Mosharraf, Hafiz, Akhtar and Qayyum -- were sent to jail as execution of their one-month detention proposals was ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday received former Awami League (AL) lawmaker HBM Iqbal's wealth statement from his representative following a High Court (HC) order though the deadline for 50 graft suspects to submit their statements expired Sunday.The HC has asked the ACC to receive the statement within 24 hours after receipt of its ruling that came in response to a writ petition filed by Dr Iqbal.The AL leader who is on the ACC list of 50 corruption suspects has sought the court's instructions so that his delegate could turn in the wealth accounts.Three more ex-AL lawmakers-- Mostafa Rashidi Suja, ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007The devastating fire at BSEC Bhaban yesterday originated from the first floor, witnesses and employees of different offices said.Several witnesses said the fire originated from electric oven while some others said it was sourced from electric short-circuit.The home ministry in order to probe yesterday's fire incident formed a committee led by Fire Service and Civil Defence director general.The authorities could not identify reasons until filing of the report at 9:00pm while firefighters did not want to make any comment until their enquiry ends.According to witnesses and employees, the fire might have been originated from one of the two ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007"Tongues of fire all around me! I am being roasted alive! Help!" These were the last words Maksuda Begum (45) sent to her husband over her mobile. Then the set went silent, in an eerie way. Akbar Hossain knew something terrible had happened to her wife. Something ominous. He turned numb.Maksuda was then hurtling down to the ground from the sixth floor of the building. She worked as a peon on the ninth floor at the Bangladesh Steel Engineering Corporation (BSEC) office.In her frantic scramble for life, she ran down to the sixth floor but then a wall of ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007Firefighters and rescue workers were bogged down due to lack of proper equipment delaying evacuation during yesterday's fire at BSEC Bhaban in Karwan Bazar in the capital even though their sincerity in doing their jobs was unquestionable. Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence department is equipped to fight fires up to the height of six to seven storey buildings as their snorkel fire engines (fire engines with a crane and a nest mounted on it) could reach only that high.Two people were trapped at the western side of the eighth floor of BSEC Bhaban for more than three hours yesterday, ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007As Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue was covered in black smoke, it was lit up with the rare courage of men who came forward to put up a massive rescue effort to evacuate over 1,000 people from the burning building. These are their stories.The first heroes of the hour were civilians. Fellow workers, pedestrians or shop-owners from the neighbouring Karwan Bazar emerged as the sole providers of emergency support for people trapped inside the building during the first minutes of the fire.These civilians, who immediately thronged to the scene after the fire broke out, were forced by circumstances to take ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 27th, 2007President Iajuddin Ahmed and Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed have expressed deep shock at loss of life and property in a devastating fire at Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation Bhaban in the capital yesterday.In separate statements, the president and the chief adviser prayed for peace of the departed souls and conveyed sympathy to the members of the bereaved families and those injured.They also directed the authorities concerned to make arrangement for quick and proper treatment of those injured.The president directed the authorities concern to strengthen the rescue operation for evacuating the people trapped in the multi-storied building.He asked the officers and ...
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