Families of 15 army officers receive Tk 30 lakh each

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia distributes cheuqes among the families of the victims of Benin plane crash at a simple ceremony at the Armed Forces Division in Dhaka Cantonment yesterday.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia distributed cheuqes among the heirs of the victims at a simple ceremony at the Armed Forces Division in Dhaka Cantonment.

The United Nations provided 50,000 US dollars each of the families of the victims as compensation.

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Directed by Prime Minister Khaleda, who is also in charge of Defence Ministry, the Armed Forces Division and Army Headquarters had taken initiatives for quick collection of the compensation.

Family members of the martyred army officers, Army Chief Lt Gen Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, Navy Chief Rear Admiral Shah Iqbal Murtuza and Air Force Chief Air Vice Marshal Fakhrul Azam, Prime Minister's Political Secretary Mohammad Mosaddek Ali, PSO Armed Force Division (AFD) Major General AIM Mustufa Reza Noor and other army high officials were present.

In a brief address on the occasion, Khaleda said their supreme sacrifice in establishing world peace would remain written in history in golden letters.

Paying rich tribu tes to the memories of the 15 martyred army officers, she conveyed her heart-felt sympathy to their family members and said they had enhanced the dignity of Bangladesh by their admirable performance in the UN Peacekeeping mission.

"Their untimely death is an irreparable loss to our national life and this loss cannot be compensated in any way," she said.

The army officers working in UN Peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone and two officers working in Liberia peacekeeping mission were killed on December 25 last year in a plane crash at the airport of Benin's capital on their way back home.

Those killed in the accident were Lt Col Syed Mohammad Shamsul Arefin, Maj Mohammad Abdur Rahim Mia, Maj Mirza Mohammad Abdul Baten, Maj Mohammad Rownok Akhther, Maj Mohammad Mustafizur Rahman, Maj Mohammad Imtiazuddin Ahmed, Maj Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain,

Capt Arifur Rahman Talukdar, Capt Farid Uddin Ahmed, Capt Mohammad Alauddin Sardar, Capt Mohammad Raqibul Hasan, Capt Mohammad Zahidul Islam, Capt Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Capt Mohammad Abdul Mabud and senior warrant officer Mohammad Shafiqul Islam.

The government had announced December 31 as National Mourning Day to pay respect to the martyred army officers.

On December 31, bodies of the army officers were flown in to Dhaka by a special flight of the UN. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia formally received the bodies at the airport.