2 siblings drown in a pond in Panchagarh

Two siblings have drowned in a pond in Tetulia upazila of Panchagarh, police said on Tuesday.

The deceased were identified as Mojibor Rahman, 8, and Habiba, 6, children of Abdul Hannan of Shalbahan union in the upazila, said Jahangir Alam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Tetulia model police station.

The tragedy occurred on Monday evening when their father left them near a pond in the Khalpara area to ferry bricks to their family house in the Nalagach area in an auto-rickshaw.

He started searching for them along with locals as he could not find them after he returned.

The bodies were found in the pond later, the OC said.

“A case of unnatural death has been filed in this regard,” said the officer.

According to WHO and Unicef, each year, over 14,000 children in Bangladesh die due to drowning.

Although largely unrecognized, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children under the age of five in the country.

Dhaka Tribune