Forty-five-year-old Nasima Begum, a cleaner by profession, had skipped lunch this afternoon during her one-hour break to stand in queue for TCB products. However, before she could buy subsidised rice, Nasima was crushed to death when a boundary wall of Mirpur University College collapsed.

Around 1:27pm, nearly 120ft of the college’s 8ft-high wall on Love Road in Mirpur-2 suddenly gave way. At that time, Nasima and 50-60 other women like her were waiting along that wall to buy essentials from a TCB truck.

The wall collapse killed Nasima and another person, and injured at least six others.

Mirpur Model Police Station OC Mohammad Hafizur Rahman confirmed that Nasima was declared dead at Pongu Hospital (National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation-Nitor). Her mother, Shahida Begum, identified Nasima's body and cried out in grief, “How will I survive now? Who do I live for?”

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An 8ft high boundary wall suddenly gave way as a group of people, mostly women, queued beside the college for subsidised TCB goods. Photo: Star

Nasima lived in a tin-shed house near Janata Housing in Mirpur-2. She earned Tk 13,000 a month as a cleaner at a private firm. Her husband, Abdul Hanif, is a migrant worker in Kuwait, but was unable to provide regularly. With her modest income, Nasima managed rent, debt, and supported her mother.

“Nasima came home for lunch but heard about a TCB truck outside from a neighbour. She didn’t want to waste her break time, so she went straight to the queue, skipping lunch,” Shahida told The Daily Star, in a trembling voice.

“The wall crushed her, and now she is gone,” she lamented, breaking down in tears.

Riazul Bepari, a witness to the incident, said, "I was drinking tea nearby when I heard a loud noise. The wall fell on the crowd... People rushed to pull victims out from under the rubble."

Another witness, Mirpur University College student Mohammad Arian, said the wall was built only a few years ago.