DHAKA, Bangladesh - Many schools in southeastern Bangladesh closed yesterday as residents mourned 44 people, mostly schoolboys, who died when a truck taking them home from a soccer match crashed into a canal.
The government asked all schools across the country to formally mourn the victims today.
Students, teachers, and officials were asked to wear black badges as a symbol of mourning and special prayers will be held at all schools, the Education Ministry said.
The victims’ relatives held prayers at their homes and mosques. Two senior Cabinet ministers visited them, and one promised jobs for the impoverished families.
“The whole nation is shocked today, we have no word to express our sympathy,’’ a sobbing Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told a crowd at a school ground. “They were our children; nothing can condole the loss.’’
