Nor’westers kill 5 in Joypurhat, Bogura

Five people, including a local Awami leader, were killed during two separate nor'westers in Joypurhat and Bogura districts last night and today.

In Joypurhat, four people, including three of a family, were killed during a nor'wester in the district last night.

The deceased are: Shilpi Begum (27), wife of Joynal Mia of Khalishbari village in Khetlal Upazila; her two children Newaj Mia (7) and Niamul Hossain (4); and Morium Begum (70) of Harunja Akandapara village under Kalai Upazila of Joypurhat.

Witnesses said the storm, accompanied by rain and strong winds, hit the district around midnight. Khetlal is the worst-hit upazila, they said.

Shilpi and her children died in their sleep when a wall of their room collapsed on them, reports our Dinajpur correspondent quoting the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Joypurhat, Mohammad Jakir Hossain.

Morium died when a piece of corrugated iron sheet from a poultry farm fell on her, the DC said.

He said that the storm left a trail of damage across the two upazilas.

Croplands of 40 villages in Kalai and Khetlal have been devastated and around 2,000 houses were damaged during the storm. A number of trees have been uprooted, the DC added.

SM Meftahul Bari, deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension in Joypurhat, said various types of crops including paddy and spinach went underwater following the storm.

At least 40,000 chickens of a poultry farm at Tilabdul village in Khetlal died after its shed collapsed during the storm.

In Bogura, a local Awami League leader was killed when a mud-wall collapsed on him during a Nor'wester in Khaloo upazila of the district around 5:30am, said Zia Latifur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Kahaloo Police Station.

The deceased was Najir Uddin Sardar (70), former vice-president of the Kahaloo upazila unit of AL and former chairman of the Kalai union parishad in the upazila, our Bogura correspondent reports quoting the OC.