Captain's wife suffers stroke

A week after US-Bangla Airlines pilot Captain Abid Sultan lost his life in the plane crash at Nepal airport, his wife suffered a stroke yesterday morning.

Afsana

Afsana Khanam suffered the stroke at her Uttara residence at around 4:00am, according to her relatives.

She was admitted to the National Institute of Neuroscience and Hospital at Agargaon in Dhaka where doctors operated on her at 7:00am, relatives said.

Pilot Abid Sultan and all four cabin crew members of the ill-fated US-Bangla flight died in the crash at Tribhuvan International Airport on March 12. The crash claimed the lives of 51 people, including 26 Bangladeshis.

Meanwhile, bodies of 23 Bangladeshi crash victims will be brought back home today.

Mohammad Al Alamul Emam, first secretary and head of chancery of the Bangladesh embassy in Nepal, told The Daily Star yesterday that the bodies will be brought back by a special flight of Bangladesh Air Force.

The bodies were first taken to the Bangladesh mission in Kathmandu, Nepal, where their first namaz-e-janaza will be held this morning, he said.

Relatives of the 23 deceased will also arrive in Dhaka by a chartered plane of US-Bangla airlines today, said Emam.

Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) said the bodies will be brought back in the afternoon to Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport's VVIP Tarmac 1 at the city's Kurmitola.

In another development, Rijen Shrestha, assistant professor of forensic department of Kathmandu Medical College said the bodies of six more plane crash victims were identified yesterday. They are: Begum Hurun Nahar Bilquis Banu, Akhi Moni, F H Priok, Umme Salma, Nazia Afrin Chowdhury and Sharmin Akhter (crew member).

With the six, 24 bodies have been identified so far. The two who are yet to be identified are Pias Roy and Alifuzzaman. Nuruz Zaman's body has been identified but will be flown back to Dhaka at a later time.

Shahin Bapari, one of the injured in the US-Bangla plane crash in Nepal. He was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital's burn unit after he returned home yesterday. Photo: Palash Khan

"NO TECHNICAL GLITCH"

"No technical glitch" was found during inspection of the US-Bangla aircraft before it took off for Kathmandu, Salahuddin M Rahmatullah, chief of Aircraft Accident Investigation Group (AAIG) of Bangladesh said yesterday.

He made the remark while talking to journalists before leaving for Kathmandu to join the investigation of the fatal plane crash.

Capt Rahmatullah is leading a team of Bangladeshi investigators in Nepal.

He also said that the pilot Abid Sultan was physically fit.

Rahmatullah said they are taking all flight details of the US-Bangla flight, and the pilot and crew members of the ill-fated aircraft.

"We are giving emphasis on the black box and CVR (cockpit voice recorder) to learn the actual facts behind the crash," he also said.

Apart from the Nepalese probe committee, he said, representatives from the aircraft manufacturer -- Bombardier of Canada, engine manufacturer of the aircraft, and a British company will also join in the investigation.

"There will be no representative from US-Bangla airlines in the investigation procedure to make it unbiased," he added.

CONDITION IMPROVING

Prof Khan Abul Kalam Azad, principal of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where six plane crash survivors have been undergoing treatment, said physical condition of those admitted at the hospital are now stable.

"Within one week, all the admitted patients are likely to recover," he said yesterday.

DMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasiruddin said the government has been bearing all the passengers' treatment expenses at the hospital.

Prof Abul Kalam Azad, director general of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said the condition of one survivor, Rezwanul, who was sent to Singapore, is now better.

Another survivor, Imrana Kabir Hashi, was sent to Singapore from Nepal on Sunday for better treatment while Yakub Ali has been sent to New Delhi, said the DG.

Dr Samanta Lal Sen, coordinator of DMCH burn and surgery unit, said that the medical board, which was formed yesterday, examined every patient's condition.

Injured Shahreen Ahmed needs to undergo an operation which will be conducted when her mental condition will be stable.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, meanwhile, yesterday urged the ministers and the political leaders not to gather at the burn unit of DMCH to visit the survivors who are undergoing treatment there.