Two killed in Ctg hill slide
Remnants of a shanty at Biswa Colony of Pahartali in Chittagong city yesterday after chunks of earth from a hill, locally known as Tanki Pahar or Balur Pahar, fell on it. (Inset) Grieving brother of one of the two victims of the hill slide. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das
Two people were killed in a landslide at Pahartali in the port city yesterday. The dead, Mosharraf Hossain Bappi, 20, and his cousin Mohammad Jamal, 40, hailing from Aladinagar in Noakhali, were both vegetable vendors. Around 6:00am, big chunks of earth from a hill, locally known as Tanki Pahar or Balur Pahar, fell on a six-room shanty located on its base at Biswa Colony, said witnesses and police sources. Locals said the room in which Bappi and Jamal were sleeping was completely buried under earth. Bappi's elder brother Anwar and his wife who were in an adjoining room escaped unhurt. “With the help of locals, I managed to save Fakhrul, another brother of mine, and his wife who were trapped in another room,” said Anwar. Fakhrul said he heard Bappi's cry for help from the adjoining room, which soon faded. Anwar said he and his seven brothers built the shanty on the piece of land they bought from one Jamal Uddin and one Mohamamd Jahir at Tk 50,000 almost six years ago. Four fire fighting units from Agrabad Fire Station immediately rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies around 8:30am. Deputy Director Ruhul Amin of Fire Service and Civil Defence, Chittagong Division, suspected that after nine-days of incessant rain that stopped last Thursday, the top portion of the hill may have become loose and slid down. Visiting the spot yesterday, this correspondent found the hill to have become very steep with most of its base area cut out and cleared by land grabbers, posing threat of further landslides. Like Anwar's family, more than 100 other families were found living at the base of the hill. Locals alleged that some influential people in the area started cutting down vast portions of the hill some seven to eight years ago and sold them. Ismail Hossain, additional deputy commissioner (revenue), said the hill was not listed among the 12 risky hills identified in the port city by the divisional committee of hill management. Jafar Alam, Department of Environment director, also a member of the committee, said the committee would include the hill in the list and look into the illegal dwellings there. Local Ward Councillor Abdus Sattar Selim, at the spot, said several drives were carried out to urge the slum dwellers to evacuate the risky areas at the base of the hills. Though these slum dwellers shift to safe areas during the rains, they always come back, he said. Just a month and a half ago, a wall collapsed in Batali Hill area of the city, killing at least 17 slum dwellers at its base.
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