DHAKA // Many schools in south-eastern Bangladesh were closed yesterday as authorities and families mourned the deaths of 44 people - mostly schoolboys - when the truck they were riding from a football match crashed into a canal.
Police launched a manhunt for the driver, who fled immediately after yesterday's crash.
The victims' relatives were holding prayers at their homes and mosques. They were visited by two senior cabinet ministers and one of them promised jobs for the impoverished families.
A sobbing Nurul Islam Nahid, the education minister, told a crowd at a school ground: "The whole nation is shocked today, we have no word to express our sympathy. They were our children, nothing can condole the loss."
The government pledged initial financial help of 20,000 takas (Dh990) to each of the families, said the local police chief, Iftekhar Hasan.
President Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also sent their condolences.
Rescuers, joined by military troops and doctors from nearby towns, pulled out the vehicle yesterday evening from the small ditch filled with recent rains in Chittagong district, 216 kilometres south-east of the capital, Dhaka.
The cargo truck was hired to take about 60 people, mostly schoolchildren between the ages of 8 and 12, home after they watched a football tournament.
At least 12 children were being treated at hospitals, Sheikh Hasan said.
"According to several witnesses, the boys were singing and dancing on board the truck," Mr Hasan said. "The truck skidded off the muddy road and turned (over) as it plunged into the canal."
The cause of the crash was not clear, but news reports said the driver was talking on his mobile phone and lost control while trying to make room for a vehicle coming from the opposite direction.
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Three ways to get a gratitude glow
By committing to at least one of these daily, you can bring more gratitude into your life, says Ong.
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Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October