At least 10 people have died and about 50 others sustained injuries in a stampede at the qulkhwani of former Chittagong mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury on Monday.
Nine of them died on the spot, and the tenth, while undergoing treatment, at Chittagong Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).
The incident took place at Rima Convention Centre at Jamal Khan area of Chittagong city.
According to UNB, the deceased were identified as Jhantu Das, 46, Sudhir Dey, 43, Krishna Prasad, 38, Pradeep Talukdar, 46, Liton Deb, 39, Titu Dey, 36, Subhashish Talukdar, 37, Ujjal Chowdhury,42, Kanak Das, 39, and Ashish Barua, 45.
Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Iqbal Bahar said people had been taking food peacefully since morning. However, the rush increased in the afternoon.
"The stampede occurred as people jostled for entering the venue through a small gate together," he said.
Asked whether enough security measures were taken, CMP chief replied that it was not an issue of security.
“It’s not that clashes broke out. There was no lack of security. People have been injured after falling on the ground in the crush of people,” he said.
Bahar added they have deployed additional forces to the other venues.
CCC councillor from Jamal Khan ward Shaibal Das Sumon blamed mismanagement of the authorities concerned for the stampede, saying, "The capacity of Rima Convention Centre is highest 4,000 where as the mezban was arranged for 10,000 people."
Mohiuddin Chowdhury, also the Awami League’s Chittagong unit president, passed away on Friday at a port city hospital at the age of 73.
The Muslim funeral rite of qulkhwani was arranged at more than 12 venues across the port city on Monday.
One of the venues was Rima Community Centre, the site for the stampede, where organisers were serving non-beef dishes, mostly for the Hindus.
The incident happened at the entrance of the two-storey building, said Anup Das, who was working as a volunteer.
With the crowd swelling out of control, people jostled for space on the ramp outside the entrance forcing some visitors to fall only to be trampled on by those behind, he said.
Das said he was also injured.
Chowdhury’s son Mohibul Hassan, an organising secretary of the ruling Awami League, rushed to the hospital after the incident.
Several local media said that Mohiuddin’s family announced Tk 100,000 in compensation for each of the families of the dead, said Awami League’s Chittagong City unit Deputy Office Secretary Jawaharlal Hajari.
They will also receive an additional Tk 5,000 for the funeral and the family will also bear the cost of treatment for those injured, said Hajari, who was in charge of the event at the community centre.
Besides, the district administration announced to provide Tk 25,000 for the burial of each deceased and Tk 5,000 for the treatment of the injured, said Additional Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman Shikder.