Altabur dies hours after returning to Dhaka from sister's funeral

Altabur Rahman, 40, a mason living with his family in the capital's Basabo area, returned to Dhaka from his village home in Jamalpur just a few hours ago after attending his sister's funeral. On Thursday, he had to make the journey back home again, but this time in an ambulance as a corpse.

Altabur and two other construction workers died after falling off a 10-storey under-construction building in the city's Sabujbagh area on Friday morning. 

Two other dead were identified as Ontor, 25 and Mofizul Islam, 20.

"Standing on a scaffold, they were working at the under-construction building beside Mayakanon Jamiatul Masjid in the area around 10:00am," Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sabujbagh Police Station Praloy Kumar Saha told The Business Standard.

"Suddenly, they fell, breaking that makeshift shed. They were rushed to Mugda General Hospital with the help of the locals. Altafur and Ontor died at the hospital while Mofizul, who was later transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, died at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) around 2:00pm," the OC said. 

Md Halim, a co-worker of the victims, told The Business Standard over the phone, "On Thursday, a scaffold was made with bamboo to plaster the outside of the building. Yesterday morning, the three rode on the scaffold to make the wall wet first before starting the plaster work." 

"Suddenly, a bamboo broke, and they fell between the two buildings. It can be called only bad luck. Nothing to say," he added. 

Halim further said Altabur joined his work last morning after six days. His elder sister, who was suffering from cancer, died last week.

In reply to a question, he said they had not worn any protective gear during the work. 

A case has been filed with the Sabujbagh Police Station by Altabur's wife, OC Praloy said