Bangladesh to mourn victims of plane crash today

The prime minister of Bangladesh has declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims of a deadly plane crash in Nepal earlier this week, DPA reports from Dhaka.A flight operated by Dhaka-based private US-Bangla Airlines with 71 people aboard crashed and burst into fire at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday.The death toll rose to 50 with the passing of a pilot at a Nepal hospital on Tuesday, according to the Bangladeshi foreign ministry.Twenty-six of those killed were from Bangladesh.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who cut short a trip to Singapore to return home after the accident, declared the day of mourning at a meeting yesterday, PM’s press officer Ashraful Alam Khokon said.Special prayers will be offered at the mosques, temples and churches across Bangladesh on Friday to seek salvation of the departed souls, the officer said.A delegation led by Bangladesh’s Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Shahjahan Kamal left Dhaka for Kathmandu after the crash to bring back the bodies of the Bangladeshi passengers.Authorities in Nepal have launched an investigation to determine the causes of the accident.