DACCA: The tornado which lashed the suburbs of Dacca yesterday [April 14] — the first day of the Bengali New Year — travelled in a belt stretching from Tejgaon to Demra Industrial Area and played havoc with lives and properties, leaving in its trail deaths and devastations. In a quick sweep the short-lived tornado, which gained a velocity of 90 miles per hour, destroyed almost everything that lay in its narrow path. Kutcha and semi-pucca houses were razed, tin roofs were blown away, walls collapsed and electric and telephone poles were twisted.

The worst-affected area where the tornado seems to have spent its fury was the Demra Industrial Area where the destruction was so complete that one has to see it to believe it. Before the local people could realise what was happening, everything was over. Houses were flattened, trees uprooted.

...The emergency wards presented a heart-rending scene with the cries and shrieks of the victims. Many of the injured persons were crying for their near and dear ones whose fates were unknown to them. Many injured persons crying hysterically said they lost their children in the tragedy.

...Bodies were still being collected from the debris in the nearby villages in Demra. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2019