RMG workers block road in Gazipur over death rumour

Garment workers blocked Kaliakoir-Nabinagar road for over three hours following a rumour of deaths of three fellow workers in a road accident in Gazipur Sadar upazila early Thursday. They also vandalised and torched a number of vehicles, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reports. After night shift duty, at least 14 workers of Beximco Industrial Park located in Chakravarti area boarded a human hauler, locally known as nosimon, to return homes. All of a sudden, a Dhaka-bound bus of Hanif Paribahan rammed the nosimon near the factory around 4:00am that left 10 workers injured, police said. As a rumour spread that three workers were killed in the accident, the fellow workers of the factory thronged the spot and blocked the Kaliakoir-Nabinagar road. They set fire to a covered van and a bus and also vandalised a number of vehicles on the road. The agitating workers withdrew the blockade around 7:30am when police rushed to the spot and told the agitators that no worker was killed in the accident. The injured workers received treatment from a local clinic, said Harunur Rashid, a sub-inspector of Chakravarti police outpost.