Funeral held for 23 Bangladeshi plane crash victims in Kathmandu

The Bangladesh Embassy in Nepal has arranged a funeral service for 23 Bangladeshi victims of the US-Bangla plane crash after identifying their bodies.

The funeral was held after the coffins were brought to the embassy premises in Kathmandu around 8:30am Monday.

Bangladeshis living in Nepal, staffers of the embassy and officials of the US-Bangla Airlines took part in the prayers.

A US-Bangla aircraft will carry the bodies to Dhaka on Monday afternoon, said Bangladesh Ambassador in Nepal Mashfi Binte Shams.

The aircraft, with 71 people on board, crashed while trying to land at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday. The aviation tragedy took 49 lives including those of 26 Bangladeshis.

Sohel Mahmud, who is part of the Bangladeshi doctors’ team that is now in Nepal, earlier said DNA tests would be required for identifying the three other victims, if all other methods fail.

The 23 bodies include those of pilot Abid Sultan, co-pilot Prithula Rashid and crew members, Khwaja Hossain Mohammad Shafey and Sharmeen Akter Nabila.

The others are Foysal Ahmed, Bilkis Ara, Begum Hurun Nahar Bilquis Banu, Akhtara Begum, Nazia Afrin Chowdhury, Rokibul Hasan, Hasan Imam, Akhi Moni, Meenhaz Bin Nasir, Faruk Hossain Priok, his 2-year-old daughter Tamarra Prionmoyee, Motiur Rahman, SM Mahmudur Rahman, Tahira Tanvin Shahshi Reza, Begum Umme Salma, Nd Nuruz Zaman, Rafiq Zaman, his wife Sanzida Huque and their 6-year-old son Aniruddha Zaman.

One of the two Bangladeshi survivors Kabir Hossain and Bangladeshi physicians will take the same flight to reach Bangladesh on Monday.

The other survivor Eakub Ali is being taken to Delhi from Kathmandu’s Norvic Hospital, according to Shams. Ali will fly on Monday.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director Alamgir Kabir told bdnews24.com on Sunday the aircraft was expected to land at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport at 4pm on Monday and that relatives had been asked to be there.

The bodies will be finally handed over to relatives after a funeral service at the Army Stadium later in the day, said US-Bangla spokesperson Kamrul Islam.