At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in a
stampede on Monday after tens of thousands of people gathered for a
funeral feast in Bangladesh's southern city of Chittagong, police said.
Police and hospital staff said they feared the death toll could rise.
“So
far we can confirm the death toll of 10 men,” city police chief Iqbal
Bahar told AFP, adding it appeared to be an “accident”. “The death toll
could rise as 15 people are critically injured,” said another police
official, Mohammad Alauddin.
Police staged baton charges
to clear the crowd who packed community centres for the afternoon feast
commemorating a popular former city mayor. Mohiuddin Chowdhury, a senior
politician of the ruling Awami League party and a three-term mayor of
the country's second-largest city, died on Friday. He was 73.
In
line with local Muslim traditions, his family and the party hosted the
funeral feast, “Mejban”, which drew more than 100,000 people to several
locations in the city to eat and pray.
Police official
Masum Billah said at least 20 policemen under his command had to use
force to control the crowd and prevent “heavier damage”. “We did not
want to charge batons on the mourners but we were left with no choice,”
he said.
TV footage showed scores of abandoned sandals
and shoes littering the community centre entrance beside broken
decorative clay flower pots where the stampede happened. Family members
rushed to the local hospital where the injured were taken, where
relatives also wept for their dead.
“We all mourn for them,” Shamim Reza, a local politician, told AFP.
Chowdhury's
family and local authorities had announced they would extend financial
assistance to the relatives of those who died, Reza added.
