A tragedy that could’ve been avoided

Abdullah had just learnt to crawl. This milestone in the nine-month-old’s life had the entire family elated.

The apple of everyone’s eye, Abdullah was doted over by everyone. Him learning to crawl was something that brought a festive mood in the family.

But it was reaching this milestone that proved to be fatal.

Around 10:30am yesterday, when his father Obaidullah was out of their Sabujbagh home and mother Aklima was busy with household work, he crawled to the bathroom and possibly tried to play with a bucket of water.

Just minutes later, Aklima noticed her son was missing. She searched and found the baby drowned in the bucket’s water, said OC Mahbub Alam of Sabujbagh Police Station. The family took the baby to Dhaka Medical College Hospital right away but it was too late.

“We are devastated. We cannot accept this sudden death,” said Majedul Islam, an uncle of the baby.

Such unexpected infant deaths take place regularly in the city and elsewhere, especially in flat residences. Experts said only increased supervision and more awareness by parents can prevent these tragedies.

“Cases of children between the age of eight and 18 months slipping out of sight and drowning in water buckets have become a common issue of urbanisation,” said Aminur Rahman, director (drowning prevention) of Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh.

Since it is not possible for parents to watch their children round the clock, they must keep bathroom doors shut, put obstacle before the doors and keep buckets or tubs empty, he said.

Obaidullah and Aklima have another son who is six.

TWO CHILDREN REMAIN MISSING AFTER DROWNING

Five-year-old Toha Moni has been missing for two days after she drowned in a ditch full of waste in Kodomtoli area on Saturday afternoon, said Mahfuz Riben, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence.

A divers’ team from fire service searched for her Saturday and yesterday but could not find her, he said last night.

In another incident, four-year-old Asadul of Kadamtala drowned in Manda canal around 4pm yesterday, he said. “Divers searched for him yesterday, but to no avail.

“We’ll resume the search for both of them today,” he said.