Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims board overcrowded trains as they try to return home after attending the three day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims board overcrowded trains as they try to return home after attending the three day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims board overcrowded trains as they try to return home after attending the three-day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims board overcrowded trains as they try to return home after attending the three-day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
A man climbs from one overcrowded train to another as thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims try to return home after attending the three day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
At least 14 people travelling on the roof of a packed train in northern India were swept to their deaths after hitting a bridge.
A vendor jumps from the top of one overcrowded train to another as thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims try to return home after attending the three-day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the River Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation, held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims board overcrowded trains as they try to return home after attending the three-day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
Devotees take part in the Akheri Munajat or final prayer by the river Turag during Bishwa Ijtema in Dhaka. Millions of devotees from across the country and many from abroad joined the final prayer of the three-day Biswa Ijtema, one of the largest Muslim religious congregations. Photo: Reuters
Devotees on boat take part in the Akheri Munajat or final prayer by the river Turag during Bishwa Ijtema in Dhaka. Millions of devotees from across the country and many from abroad joined the final prayer as the three-day Biswa Ijtema, one of the largest Muslim religious congregations concluded on Sunday noon seeking divine blessings. Photo: Reuters
A Bangladeshi Muslim prays as thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims on overcrowded trains try to return home after attending the three day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims board overcrowded trains as they try to return home after attending the three-day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The congregation held each year since 1966, is among the world's largest religious gatherings. Photo: AP
Published Jan 24, 2011
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At least 2.5 million Muslims joined prayers near the Bangladeshi capital as part of the second largest annual Islamic festival after the Hajj to Mecca. The normally congested streets of Dhaka were empty as devotees left work to gather on the banks of the river Turag for the end of the first phase of the Biswa Ijtema, or World Muslim Congregation. The gathering, at which Muslims pray and listen to religious scholars, was first held in the 1960s at Tongi, some 30 kilometres north of Dhaka.
Dressed in traditional Islamic robes and caps, devotees set up prayer mats beneath a canopy stretching more than a kilometre while hundreds of thousands of people filled the open space available for the final prayer.
