The heat wave has been going on since the beginning of April. Sometimes moderate and sometimes intense heat wave. Children and teenagers are taking bath to save themselves from this. However, carelessness also leads to life.
16 people drowned in Rajshahi region this month. Most of which are children and teenagers. Last Tuesday (April 23) three teenagers drowned. And this month, nine people drowned in the Padma river.
Three teenagers died on Tuesday (April 23) after going down to bathe at Shyampur ghat of Padma river. Later fire service came and recovered their bodies. They are Yuvraj (12) son of Rentu of Katakhali Bakhrabaz area, Arif (13) son of Liton and Jamal (12) son of Noor Islam.
Before this, on April 14, Jannat Khatun (8) drowned in the water after coming to her wedding home in Bagha, Rajshahi. However, another child named Jhilik Khatun (12) is still missing. The fire service could not rescue him.
On Friday (April 19), Siam Hossain Sajib, 10 years old son of Sujan Ali of Khairhat village of the upazila, drowned in Khayahat in Murshidpur area of Padma river (10 On Saturday (April 20), a young man named Asad Hossain (18) died while taking a bath in a boat in the Padma river in Bagha upazila). .
Bappi Hossain (16) and Monir Hossain (20) went down to bathe in Padma river on Sunday (April 21). They also drowned later.
A child named Al Amin (12) died while taking a bath and a youth named Rana Mia (25) while learning to swim in the pond. Separate accidents took place in Ramnathpur and Khairbari villages of Ishwardi upazila of Pabna on Tuesday (April 2) afternoon and afternoon. Son of Khairul Islam Bashar of Ramnathpur village of Muladuli union of Al Amin upazila. And Rana Mia, son of Kashem Ali of East Tengri Eidgah Para area of Ishwardi town and son-in-law of Forkan Sheikh of Khairbari village.
Three children drowned in the river in a separate incident in Chapainawabganj. One child died in Shibganj upazila’s Tarttipur and two children died in Bholahat’s Gohalbari on Saturday (April 6) afternoon. The deceased are – Priyanka (11) daughter of Roop Kumar of Ranihati Union of Shibganj Upazila and Md. Azizul Haque (11) is the son of Subodh Mistry of Radhanagar Colony of Gohalbari Union of Bholahat Upazila and Md. Jihad (11) son of Abdul Qadir.
Abu Sama, senior station officer of Rajshahi Fire Service Station, said that drowning deaths have increased in Rajshahi for the past few days. I guess teenagers are dying to bathe in the river to escape the heat.
He also said that many of those who were dying did not know how to swim. Many knew how to swim. But seeing one is drowning while catching the other, we initially think that both of them are drowning. The fire service official called upon the parents to ensure that children and teenagers who do not know how to swim do not bathe in the river. He said, if this is done, death will be reduced a lot.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics report ‘Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2022’, more than 7 percent of child deaths under the age of five occur due to drowning.
According to a report by the Non-Governmental Organization for Media Development and Communication, 880 drowning deaths were reported in the media from January 1 to December 31, 2023. In 87 percent of these cases, the victim was under 9 years of age. This rate is 6 percent higher than in 2022. More than one-third of all deaths occurred between morning and afternoon.
Alamgir Hossain, the former coach of the Bangladesh National Swimming Team, said that many people die every year in the country because of not knowing how to swim. Along with education, children should also be taught to swim. A child’s education will cost nothing if it drowns. To save life, swimming must be taught. People are less interested. Parents should be aware.
RH/MB
