DUBAI: A Pakistani expatriate, Tahir Ameen, has drawn widespread praise on social media after risking his life to pick up a fallen United Arab Emirates flag from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, one of Dubai’s busiest highways.

Witnesses said Tahir Ameen stopped amid fast-moving traffic, where vehicles were travelling at speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour, to retrieve the flag. He was later seen handling the flag with respect before moving to safety.

The incident went viral on social media, with many Emirati users praising his actions as a gesture of respect and loyalty towards the country.

Speaking to Geo News, Tahir Ameen said he came to Dubai 18 years ago and started his career as a cleaner before working his way up to a managerial position.

“Dubai has given me a lot, and as Pakistanis living here, it is our responsibility to respect this country and its flag,” he said.

• UN says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns.
• CID says mass grave held roughly 114 bodies.
• Exhumed bodies to be given post-mortem examinations.
  

Bangladeshi police began exhuming on Sunday a mass grave believed to contain around 114 unidentified victims of a mass uprising that toppled autocratic former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.

The UN-supported effort is being advised by Argentine forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider, who has led recovery and identification missions at mass graves worldwide for decades.

The bodies were buried at the Rayer bazar Graveyard in Dhaka by the volunteer group Anjuman Mufidul Islam, which said it handled 80 unclaimed bodies in July and another 34 in August 2024 — all people reported to have been killed during weeks of deadly protests.

The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity.

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah said investigators believed the mass grave held roughly 114 bodies, but the exact number would only be known once exhumations were complete.

“We can only confirm once we dig the graves and exhume the bodies,” Ullah told reporters.

‘Searched for him’

Among those hoping for answers is Mohammed Nabil, who is searching for the remains of his brother Sohel Rana, 28, who vanished in July 2024.

“We searched for him everywhere,” Nabil told AFP.

He said his family first suspected Rana’s death after seeing a Facebook video, then recognised his clothing — blue T-shirt and black trousers — in a photograph taken by burial volunteers.

Exhumed bodies will be given post-mortem examinations and DNA testing. The process is expected to take several weeks to complete.

“It’s been more than a year, so it won’t be possible to extract DNA from the soft tissues,” senior police officer Abu Taleb told AFP. “Working with bones would be more time-consuming.”

Forensic experts from four Dhaka medical colleges are part of the team, with Fondebrider brought in to offer support as part of an agreement with the UN rights body the OHCHR.

“The process is complex and unique,” Fondebrider told reporters. “We will guarantee that international standards will be followed.”

Fondebrider previously headed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, founded in 1984 to investigate the tens of thousands who disappeared during Argentina’s former military dictatorship.

Authorities say the exhumed bodies will be reburied in accordance with religious rites and their families’ wishes.

Hasina, convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, remains in self-imposed exile in India.

• Over 2 million people affected by Sri Lanka cyclone.
• 209 people remain missing after catastrophic storm.
• 75,000 homes damaged in cyclone disaster: authorities
  

Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday with rains lashing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone, as the death toll rose to 618.

More than two million people — nearly 10% of the population — have been affected by last week´s floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said monsoon storms were adding more rain and making hillsides unstable, including the central mountainous region and the north-western midlands.

Helicopters and planes were being used on Sunday to supply communities cut off by landslides in the centre of the country.

The Sri Lanka Air Force said it had received a planeload of relief supplies from Myanmar on Sunday, the latest batch of foreign aid.

The government has confirmed 618 dead, 464 from the lush tea-growing central region, while 209 people remain unaccounted for.

The number of people in state-run refugee camps had dropped to 100,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded across the island by Sunday, the DMC said.

More than 75,000 homes were damaged, including close to 5,000 that were completely destroyed, it added.

The government on Friday unveiled a major compensation package to rebuild homes and revive businesses wiped out by the natural disaster, which hit the island as it was emerging from its 2022 economic meltdown.

A senior official earlier said recovery and reconstruction might cost up to $7 billion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday it was considering Sri Lanka’s request for an additional $200 million to help with rebuilding.

The money is on top of the $347 million tranche due later this month, part of a four-year, $2.9 billion IMF bailout loan agreed in 2023.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament on Friday that Sri Lanka’s economy had made a significant recovery, but was not strong enough to withstand the latest shock alone.

Survivors will be offered up to LKR10 million ($33,000) to buy land in a safer location and build a new house, the finance ministry said in a statement late on Friday.

One LKR1 million is being offered in compensation for each person killed or left permanently disabled.

The government did not say how much the package would cost, raising concerns given the country´s recent economic turbulence.

The central bank has ordered commercial lenders, both state-owned and private, to reschedule loans.