Temperature rises a bit

A man burned to death and three others were injured when their clothes caught up in the fire they had made to stave off the cold in Alipur of Sirajganj on Monday.

Locals said labourer Dablu Sheikh, 32, along with several others had made the fire, feeding it with straws, and huddled together around it to stay warm. 

Dablu's clothes caught fire and the others got burned when they tried to extinguish the flames.

Critically injured Dablu was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

He died of his injuries yesterday.

The country has been witnessing a cold wave for the last few days. On Monday, the mercury plunged to 2.6 degrees Celsius in Tentulia, the lowest in 50 years.

Yesterday, the lowest temperature recorded in Tentulia was 5.8 degrees Celsius.

Locals of Tentulia in Panchagarh have been suffering severely due to extreme cold weather, reports our Thakurgaon correspondent.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Tentulia said they have so far distributed around 10,000 blankets to the affected people.

Potato farmers of the district are struggling to save their plants.

Weather forecast says a severe cold wave is sweeping over the northern regions, and a mild to moderate cold wave is prevailing over central and southern regions.

Children have been badly affected by the cold wave, reports our correspondents in Narayanganj, Dinajpur, and Pabna.

In the last one week, hundreds of children have been admitted to hospitals with cold-related diseases.

However, the Met Office said the cold wave is gradually lifting and the temperature all across the country has risen by 1-2 degrees Celsius. It forecast that it would get warmer in the coming days.

"The severe cold wave sweeping over Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions and the regions of Tangail, Srimangal and Chuadanga is likely to lift within a day or two," said Mizanur Rahman, assistant meteorologist, adding that a light wave may persist over these regions.

According to the Met office, moderate to thick fog may occur over the northern parts of the country and over the river basins, and light to moderate fog over other parts of the country, from midnight to morning.

The temperature at night will gradually rise in Dhaka from today onwards, he said, adding that the highest recorded temperature of Dhaka was 20.6 degrees Celsius at yesterday noon.

[Our correspondents from Pabna, Narayanganj, Thakurgaon, and Dinajpur have contributed to this story]