Stampede kills 3, injures 15

Three women died while around 15 others were injured in a stampede during a rush for zakat (charity on one's wealth) in the capital's Fakirapool yesterday.
The dead are Saju Akhter Moyna, 30, a domestic help, and Jorina Begum, 36, a beggar. The identity of the other victim aged around 65 years could not be ascertained immediately.
Witnesses said the incident occurred around 6:00pm when around 3,000 poor people, mostly women, gathered in front of Malek Market near Fakirapool bazaar to collect zakat from the market owner's family.
As they tried to rush through a gate of the market, some of them fell down on the floor and were trampled.
Clearing the crowd, security guards of the market rescued around 20 victims.
Reaching the scene, police sent four critically injured women to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the doctors declared the three dead.
Talking to The Daily Star, Saju's aunt Kohinoor Begum said four of their family members had been waiting there since noon to collect zakat.
Around 4:30pm, the security guards opened the gate and allowed a group of women in. But as more women tried to rush in, the guards beat them up to have them out of the eight-story market building.
Saju was injured at that time.
Family members of the market owner said they had arranged iftar for the poor women and planned to distribute 1,000 pieces of sarees among them.
The injured received treatment at local clinics.
Law enforcers last night arrested Akhtar Hossain, manager of the market, for alleged mismanagement in zakat distribution.