TV chief Ashfaque Munier, filmmaker Tareque Masud killed
Manikganj, Aug 13 (bdnews24.com)—Ashfaque (Mishuk) Munier, the CEO of ATN News, and Tareque Masud, an award-winning filmmaker, were among five killed in an accident on the Dhaka-Aricha highway in Manikganj, police say.
Manikganj SP Mohammad Ali told bdnews24.com that they were travelling in the same car when the accident occurred near Ghior, around mid-day Saturday.
Ali said the victims’ microbus collided head-on with an oncoming passenger bus.
They were returning to Dhaka from Manikganj after visiting a shooting location for his new film Kagojer Phool (The Paper Flower). Masud’s wife Catherine Masud was also seriously injured in the accident.
Catherine and two other critically injured people were initially admitted to Manikganj Adhunik Sadar Hospital, but were being moved to Dhaka.
President Zillur Rahman, prime minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia have condoled the deaths
Rafiq Monis, Masud’s assistant who survived the accident, said they had gone there around 6am. He said both Munier and Masud died instantly at the scene after the passenger bus hit it.
Monis suffered cuts in parts of his body. The driver of their microbus was among the dead, he said.
Painter Dhali Al Mamun and his wife, who were travelling with them, were also injured in the accident, he said.
Communications minister Syed Abul Hossain told bdnews24.com that he has ordered to form a three-member committee of Roads and Highways Department to investigate into the accident.
Secretary of the department Mozammel Haque Khan, who was on his way from Madaripur to Dhaka, was ordered to visit the area, the minister said.
“The microbus carrying them collided head on with a bus when the microbus driver tried to overtake another bus,” he said.
“He shouldn’t have overtaken. The road or signals didn’t cause the accident. We’re, however, investigating the matter,” he added.
Munier is son of 1971 martyred intellectual Munier Chowdhury and he taught video journalism at the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of Dhaka University.
He took charge of ATN News station in Nov 2010, having previously worked with The Real News, a Canada-US based a television news and documentary network.
Masud directed a number of critically acclaimed films such as Muktir Gaan (The Song of Freedom) and Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) that won a FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Banned by the government in May 2002, .Matir Moina was the first film from Bangladesh to go on general release in the UK.
Born at Bhanga, Masud and Catherine, who is his co-director and a film editor, run a film production house, Audiovision.
The New York Times’ Elvis Mitchell wrote in June 2003 about The Clay Bird: “Masud’s expansive fluidity is rapturous, inspired equally by the floating equanimity of Satyajit Ray and the work of the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, who deftly uses ritual behavior to provide social commentary.”
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