10 drown in two days

At least 10 people, including two young children, drowned in separate incidents in the last two days.

In Subarnachar, Noakhali, three-year-old Faria Akhter and her five-year-old cousin Mohammad Tahasin drowned in a pond next to their grandparents' house in Char Jubili area on Monday, said Shaheen Mia, officer-in-charge of Charjabbar Police Station.

Locals said the children, who went to the village to spend the Eid vacation with their grandparents, were playing near the water when they accidentally fell in.

Villagers recovered their bodies around 5:30pm and a local doctor declared them dead soon afterwards.

In Moulvibazar's Juri upazila, Babul Ahmed Babu, 60, and his daughter Halima Mohammad, 18, drowned in a pond in Hamidpur village on Monday.

Babul, a brick kiln owner from Dhaka, travelled to his ancestral village with his daughter for Eid, said Murshedul Alam Bhuiyan, OC of Juri Police Station.

Babul was teaching Halima how to swim when she slipped into deeper water, Murshedul said, adding that Babul tried to rescue her, but they both drowned.

Halima was a student of Viqarunnesa Noon School and College and was due to appear in this year's HSC examinations.

In Cox's Bazar, six bodies were recovered from the beach and nearby areas in a span of 16 hours. Among the dead were Shahinur Rahman, 60, and his son Sifat, 20, from Rajshahi.

They drowned while swimming on the beach near Sayeman hotel.

Earlier in the day, the body of local fisherman Nuru Saudagar was recovered from Nazirartek. He had gone missing while fishing near the Shaibal area on Sunday.

Three other bodies were recovered from the sea beach at Pechardwip, Bakkhali estuary, and Diabetes area. One of the victims was identified as Mohammad Rajib of DC Road in Chattogram. He went missing while he was swimming with his friends. Two other victims remained unidentified as of yesterday.

Sea Safe Lifeguard member Saifullah Sifat said, "We rescued six people alive this morning. We are severely short-staffed, only 27 lifeguards are on duty in two shifts. But the beach is vast."