By Xinhua,
Dhaka : Bangladesh on Wednesday mourned the victims of the massive earthquake in China and of the cyclone in Myanmar with all the national flags at government and semi-government offices and foreign missions down at half-mast.
The Bangladeshi caretaker government announced Tuesday to have a one-day mourning on Wednesday in memory of the victims of the two countries.
Many Bangladeshi friends and foreign envoys in Bangladesh came to the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka to sign on the condolence book. Among them were Army Acting Chief Lt. Gen. Jahangir Chowdhury, Navy Chief Vice Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam and Air Force Chief AirMarshal Ziaur Rahman.
After the quake hit southwest China on May 12, Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi caretaker government Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury sent messages separately to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to offer their condolences to the quake victims.
Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain said Tuesday that his country would provide some relief materials to the quake-affected areas in China. The Bangladeshi government has earlier offered services of an army medical team for the quake victims.
Also on Wednesday, the Chinese Embassy held a press conference to brief the local media on the latest development of the quake relief operation in China.
Media representatives who attended the press conference expressed their condolences to the victims of the quake and wished China an early recovery from the disaster.
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake jolted southwest China’s Sichuan Province on May 12. The death toll in the quake rose to 41,353 as of 12:00 p.m. Wednesday (0400 GMT), according to the Information Office of China’s State Council.