CHITTAGONG, (Bangladesh): Ten people were killed and dozens injured in a stampede Monday after tens of thousands of people gathered for a funeral feast in Bangladesh’s southern city of Chittagong, police said. Police and hospital staff said they feared the death toll could rise. “So far we can confirm the death toll of 10 men,” city police chief Iqbal Bahar told AFP, adding it appeared to be an “accident”. “The death toll could rise as 15 people are critically injured,” said another police official, Mohammad Alauddin.

Police staged baton charges to clear the crowd who packed community centres for the afternoon feast commemorating a popular former city mayor.

Mohiuddin Chowdhury, a senior politician of the ruling Awami League party and a three-term mayor of the country’s second largest city, died on Friday. He was 73. In line with local Muslim traditions his family and the party hosted the funeral feast, “Mejban”, which drew more than 100,000 people to several locations in the city to eat and pray.—AFP