Sitakunda woman dies while waiting in line for OMS rice
A woman died on Monday while waiting for buying rice from an open market sale (OMS) point at Sitakunda of Chattogram.
Deceased Shikha Malakar, 38, is the wife of Tapan Malakar and resident of Nijtaluk area of Sitakunda.
Sitakunda Upazila Health and Family Planning officer Dr Nur Uddin Rashed said, "The woman had died before she was brought to the hospital. She died of cardiac arrest amid huge crowd."
Witnesses said few people stood in line in front of dealer Rabbani's shop to buy OMS rice. After a while, the crowd of people gradually increased. At one point, fearing that the rice would run out, they started hurrying. Shikha Malakar fell on the ground due to the crowd.
She was rushed to upazila health complex where duty doctor declared her dead on arrival.
Sitakunda Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shahadat Hossain said, "Selling of OMS rice was supposed to start at 9am, but the woman was standing in the queue since 8:30am. She suffered a cardiac arrest at that time. It is not true that she died due to the crowd."