2 killed as makeshift lift falls

Two workers of a poultry farm in Bogura's Shajahanpur upazila were killed as a locally made lift at the factory fell free from the sixth floor yesterday.

The dead are Narayan Chandra, 22, of Kamarbania village, and Rashidul Islam, 20, of Buribandha village, in Panchagarh's Boda upazila.

Both of them were workers of a poultry farm named Tamim Agro-industries, said police.

Abdur Razzak, sub-inspector of Shajahanpur Police Station, said the workers were using a lift that was made locally without following proper guidelines.

Around 6:30am yesterday, the duo was going to the seventh floor of the factory with several sacks of poultry feed. However, the lift cables broke and it fell free, he said.

Before police could reach the spot, the poultry farm authorities sent the duo to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogura where doctors pronounced them dead, the police officer said.

The dead bodies were kept at the hospital morgue for autopsies.

Abdullah Al Mamun, officer-in-charge of Shajahanpur Police Station, said police would file a case upon receiving complaint from the victims' family members.

"If they [victims' family members] do not show any interest in filing the complaint, we will do as per our high officials' direction," he added.

Asked about the illegal lift, the OC said, "The farm authority uses the lift for carrying goods from ground to different floors, not human. But the workers sometimes use this lift."

Contacted, FM Ruhul Amin, deputy manager of the Tamim Agro Industries Limited, told The Daily Star, "We brought that lift from Dhaka. I am not sure whether it was made locally.

"We normally carry feed [goods] by this lift to the multistoried buildings, but unfortunately two of our workers died today [yesterday] as the cable separated accidentally."

He also urged this correspondent not to carry the news on The Daily Star and invited him for a cup of tea at his office.