Nepali students in Bangladesh hold candlelight vigil for plane crash victims

Nepali students from Bangladesh universities have remembered the victims of the US-Bangla Airlines plane crash in Kathmandu that killed 49 people from four nations.

Thirteen Nepali students of a Bangladeshi medical college were among 67 passengers of the aircraft that crashed near the runway of Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday afternoon.

The 49 deceased include 11 of the Nepali students. The two others have been critically injured.

Bangladeshi students also joined a one-minute candlelight vigil organised by the Nepali students in Bangladesh in front of the Raju Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus on Tuesday evening.

Jas Bahadur Gurung, a Nepali student of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University or BSMMU, told bdnews24.com at the programme: “We extend our sympathy to the families who lost their members in the plane crash. We are deeply sorry for the deaths.”

Dhaka Medical College student Omar Dwip Chowdhury from Nepal said, “We pray for the peace of the departed souls.”

A similar programme was organised at the Central Shaheed Minar under the banner of ‘Citizens Shocked at the Plane Crash’. They sang Tagore song ‘Aguner Parashmoni Chhoaon Prane’ while lighting the candles.

Pratibandhi Nagorik Sangathan Parishad, a council of organisations that work for people with disabilities, also joined the event at the Shaheed Minar.

The founder of the organisation, former journalist Rafiq Zaman Rimu, died along with his wife Sanzida Haque Bipasha and their 6-year-old son Aniruddha Zaman in the plane crash.

The council’s General Secretary Salma Mahbub told bdnews24.com: “He (Rafiq) was a pioneer in the movement for the rights of the people with disabilities.”

Members of Dhaka University Film Society also joined the observation. Rafiq and Bipasha were lifetime members of the organisation.

Its General Secretary Sourav Sarker told bdnews24.com: “We are deeply shocked at the sudden demise of Rafiq Bhai, Bipasha Apa and Aniruddha.”

The private medical colleges in Bangladesh declared a three-day mourning over the deaths of the Nepali students of Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College in Sylhet in the plane crash.

Bangladesh Private Medical College Association President Mockbul Hossain and General Secretary Enamur Rahaman MP have expressed sorrow over the deaths of the students in a condolence message.

They said the teachers, students and employees of the private medical colleges in Bangladesh would wear black badges and fly black flags for three days from Wednesday to mourn the Nepali students.