Dinajpur 'mine blast tragedy day' today
A large number of freedom fighters, who met tragic death due to a series of accidental mine blasts at Moharaja Girijanath High School ground in Dinajpur town on January 6 in 1972, were buried at Chehelgazi under the municipality. Photo: STAR
Today, January 6 is the reminder of Dinajpur mine blast tragedy. On this day in 1972, several hundred freedom fighters were killed in a series of explosions that followed an accidental mine blast at the transit camp of freedom fighters on at Maharaja Girizanath High School in the town. After the December 16 final victory against the Pakistan occupation army, around 800 freedom fighters belonging to erstwhile Sectors 6 and 7 were brought to the transit camp set up at the school ground, said witnesses and survivors of the tragedy. The freedom fighters under the supervision of the camp in-charge started searching out land mines and other explosives earlier planted by Pakistani forces at different places of Dinajpur and surrounding districts. The recovered explosives including mines, anti-tank mines, jumping mines and mortars shells were piled up at the school ground. On January 6, 1972, the freedom fighters were unloading explosives from two trucks when accidentally a landmine exploded, and it led to a series of explosions, killing a large number of freedom fighters, witnesses said. Scattered limbs of human bodies and debris from the buildings destroyed in the explosions spread in all directions, creating horrible scene. The accident killed around 200 people on the spot, said freedom fighter and former mayor of Dinajpur municipality Md Shafiqul Haque, also an eyewitness to the incident. After the series blast, locals rescued hundreds of wounded freedom fighters but most of them could not be saved due to lack of treatment facilities in the war-ravaged country. Forty 40 years after the tragedy, the exact number of the victims could not be known due lack of proper initiatives. Over a hundred freedom fighters were buried at Chehelgazi under Dinajpur Sadar upazila with state honour while bodies of many others were taken by the family members. A large number of pieces of limbs of the killed people were also buried at the same place. Through their own initiative, Sixth January Smriti Parishad (memorial committee) of Dinajpur built a monument with a list of 238 martyred freedom fighters at the school ground.
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