Thirteen people were killed and 20 others critically injured in lightning strike when they were offering prayers at a makeshift mosque in Dharmapasha of Sunamganj on Friday night.
The lightning struck a group of locals who were offering tarabi prayers at about 9:00pm in a tin-and-thatch structure in the remote Sarswati village in rough weather, Sunamganj police superintendent Noor-e-Alam Mina told New Age.
The imam, Shahabudddin, 55, and two others died on the spot, the police said.
Joysri union parishad leaders with the help of locals took the injured to Dharmapasha, said Dharmapasha police officer-in-charge Bayes Alam.
Eight others died on the way to Dharmapasha health complex, he said adding that it was a remote char area in the district where it took at least three hours to reach in a trawler.
The police identified the 12 other deceased as Abdus Salam, Ripon Mia, 18, Nazrul Islam, 55, Manik Mia, Moslemin, 25, Abdul Gafur, 65, Badsha Mia, Abu Taher, Hazrat Ali, Nur Islam, Anwar Hossain and Nurul Islam.
The death toll could rise as a number of injured admitted to the health complex were fighting for life, the police quoted the doctors as saying.
Quoting witnesses, Madhyanagar police officer-in-charge AKM Mezanul Haque, who went to the spot after the tragic incident, told New Age
that some 35 villagers
on the char island were
offering prayers at the place.
Most of the people were farmers and fishermen, the police said, adding the imam Shahabudddin had come from Mymensingh on contract to lead the tarabi prayers.
Some other villagers who joined the prayers sustained minor injuries, the police said.
Gloom descended on the island village after the tragedy struck.
-With New Age input
