Police in Bangladesh investigate ‘food poisoning’ deaths of British father and son

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Police in Bangladesh are investigating the deaths of a British father and son while on holiday in the South Asian country, the BBC reported.

Rofikul Islam, 51, and his son Mahiqul, 16, were initially thought to have died from food poisoning but the authorities are now considering other possibilities, the report said.

According to Bangladeshi Police, Islam was staying with his wife Husnara, 45, and two other children — Sadiqul, 24 and Samira, 20 — in a flat near the northeastern city of Sylhet.

The family, from the Riverside area of Cardiff, was on a two-month visit to Bangladesh, local police said.

Police superintendent Farid Uddin said the five were all sleeping in the same room on Monday night. When they failed to stir the following morning, their relatives raised the alarm at about 10 a.m.

Police officers broke into the building and found Islam and his son dead. His wife and two older children were taken to hospital. Uddin said the three survivors were in intensive care but had shown signs of improvement.

Post mortem examinations had been carried out but it could take up to five days to get the results, he said.

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, assistant secretary of the Bangladeshi Association in Cardiff, said the news of the deaths had left everybody “so shocked.”

“It’s summer holidays and a lot of British-Bangladeshi people are in Bangladesh right now, especially in Sylhet, Osmani Nagar and Tajpur, the place where this incident happened.

“It will never be forgotten by us. We are praying for his soul.”

Muhibur Islam, from Jalalia Mosque and Islamic education center, added: “The whole community itself is in shock of a well-known family, very well known in the area over the years.

“It’s just disbelief. Absolute disbelief, that’s what it is.”