Children among 5 drown in 3 dists

At least five people, including two children, drowned in Kishoreganj, Sylhet, and Tangail districts yesterday.

In Kishoreganj, two children drowned in a pool near their house at Pitua village in Karimganj upazila in the afternoon.

The deceased are Yasmin Akhter, 8, daughter of Shafiqul Islam, and her cousin Taiyiba Akhter, 9, daughter of Russell Mia of the same village. They were both third-grade students at a local primary school.

Yasmin and Taiyiba went to bathe in the pool around 12:30pm. As they were late returning home, family members went to the spot and found them stuck in the mud under the water.

They were rescued and taken to Karimganj Upazila Health Complex, where the doctors declared them dead, said Dr Riyad Shahed, upazila health and family planning officer.

In Sylhet, a teenage tourist drowned while bathing in a waterbody at Jaflong Zero Point under Gowainghat upazila in the afternoon.

The deceased was identified as Mahi, 15, son of Jamil Ahmed of the Shahidpara area under Bayezid Police Station in Chattogram.

Sarkar Mohammad Toufayel Ahmed, officer-in-charge of Gowainghat Police Station, said Mahi drowned around 1:45pm while visiting the spot with his friends.

His body was recovered at around 2:00pm and sent to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital for autopsy. His family has been informed, the OC added.

In Tangail, two youths drowned in separate incidents in Gopalpur and Basail upazilas in the afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Mustafa Shaharyal Nehal, 22, a student of BRAC University and resident of Dhaka's Rampura, and Jahidul Islam, 17, of Bhaua village under Saturia upazila in Manikganj.

Nehal, who had gone to attend a wedding, drowned while trying to save his cousin while bathing in the Bairan River. Fire service personnel later recovered his body near the Hatbairan Kumarpara area in the upazila, said Mamun Bhuiyan, inspector (investigation) of Gopalpur Police Station.

Jahidul, who was visiting a picnic spot in Basail upazila with his friends, drowned in Chapra Beel, a nearby swamp, around 3:00pm.

"He was brought dead to the hospital," said Dr Nahid Khan Sohag, in charge of the emergency department at Basail Upazila Health Complex.

"The body is in police custody. The family of the deceased has been informed," said Farid Ahmed, a sub-inspector of Basail Police Station.