The body of Awami League Presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim’s grandson Zayan Chowdhury, who was killed in the bomb attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday, will arrive in Bangladesh on Wednesday (Apr 24), not on Tuesday as it was announced earlier.
Awami League acting General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif told Bangla Tribune that it has been delayed as official formalities are yet to be complete.
Earlier on Monday, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said that Zayan’s mortal remains were set to arrive at the Dhaka airport at 11am on Tuesday.
Hanif said that the body is expected to reach the same time on Wednesday.
Sheikh Selim’s personal aide Imrul Haque told Bangla Tribune that the body will be taken to the senior Awami League leader’s Banani residence from the airport before the funeral prayer and burial later in the day.
Zayan will be laid to rest at the Banani graveyard, he said.
Nearly 300 people were killed and at least 450 injured in bomb blasts that ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Colombo on Easter Sunday, the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war a decade ago.
Zayan, one of the two sons of Sheikh Selim’s daughter Sheikh Amena Sultana Sonia, died in an explosion in the hotel where the family was staying.
His father Mashiul Haque Chowdhury Prince was also injured in the blast and now being treated at a local hospital in critical condition.
The eight-year-old was having breakfast with his father at a restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel in Colombo that came under attack along with several other hotels and churches during Easter Sunday celebrations.
Zayan’s younger brother Zohan Chowdhary and mother Sheikh Amina Sultana Sonia were in their hotel room during the blast. The family went to Sri Lanka on a vacation.