Journalist Shila Afroza passed away at her Pallabi residence in the city yesterday at the age of 37. She had been suffering from brain cancer for the last seven years.

She left behind her husband and two daughters Arshi,9,andUrvashi,5, and a host of relatives, friends and well-wishers to mourn her premature death.

After completing honours and masters in mass communication and journalism at Dhaka University, Shila devoted herself to journalism. In 1997, she joined the Daily Bhorer Kagoj. In 2004, she started working in the Daily Amar Desh but could not continue her career three years after she was diagnosed with brain tumor.

Her passion for journalism and hard work earned her different awards, including the best reporter award of Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). An ever jolly and kind-hearted person, Shila got the two prestigious awards in2006.

On information from her journalist husband ATM Sayeeduzzaman that Shila breathed her last at around 11:00am, her friends, former colleagues and relatives rushed to Pallabi to pay their last respects to her. A number of former and present cricketers also gathered there to console sports journalist Sayeeduzzaman, who is a special correspondent of the Daily Kaier Kantho.

After her namaz-e-janaza at a local mosque, the body was taken to her father-in-law's village in Chandpur where she was buried.

Dhaka Reporters Unity, Bangladesh Sports Journalists Association and Bangladesh Sports Press Association expressed deep shock at the death and prayed for the salvation of the departed soul.