Death toll to touch 10000
bdnews24.com, Dhaka
Grieving survivors and rescuers picked through the rubble left in the wake of a super cyclone that battered Bangladesh as the death toll surpassed 2,200 Sunday and a government official declared the disaster "a national calamity". Mohammad Abdur Rob, chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, said the overall death toll from the cyclone could reach 10,000.
"Based on our experience in the past and reports from the scene I would guess the death toll may be as high as 10,000," he told reporters. Bangladesh officials also expected the death toll to rise as the search for hundreds of people missing after Thursday night's storm intensified. According to the latest tally released by the disaster management ministry, the death toll from the super cyclone reached 2,217. Local officials in affected areas say the death toll given by the ministry is far below the real numbers. "Some 2,000 people have died in my area alone," said Anwar Panchayet, chairman of Southkhali, in the district of Bagerhat. Military ships and helicopters were trying to reach thousands of people believed stranded on islands in the Bay of Bengal and in coastal areas still cut off by the devastating storm.
HC stays EC letter inviting BNP reformists to dialogue
UNB, Dhaka
The High Court Sunday stayed the operation of the Election Commission letter inviting the reformist BNP faction to November 22 dialogue on electoral reforms, as detained party chief Khaleda Zia challenged the EC decision.
Passing the order of stay for four weeks, the High Court issued a rule upon the Election Commission and other respondents to explain why the impugned letter to Maj (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed "should not be declared unlawful".
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Probe body formed to investigate power failure
UNB, Dhaka
The government Sunday formed a seven- member probe body to find out the reasons behind the grid failure twice that resulted in a disastrous collapse of the entire power-supply system countrywide during the cyclonic disaster.
After the hurricane Sidr struck, the whole of the country plunged into a blackout that continued for more than 16 hours in two spells on November 16.
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