Dhaka: Three children drowned in separate incidents in Faridganj and Hajiganj upazilas of Chandpur on Tuesday. In Faridganj, A Rahman, the 3-year-old son of school teacher Abdul Kader from Sokdirampur village, drowned in a pond beside his father's school while playing around 10am. While his father was taking a class, the child was playing on the school veranda, as he usually did. At one point, he apparently went unnoticed and fell into the pond. Locals rescued the child and rushed him to the upazila government hospital, where an on-duty doctor declared him dead. His mother, Ayesha Begum, had died of cancer three months ago.
According to United News of Bangladesh, in Hajiganj, five-year-old Samad, son of Mamun Molla, drowned in a pond at Molla Bari in the Aliganj area around 8am. Later in the afternoon, two-and-a-half-year-old Mozahid, son of Habib Molla, drowned after falling into a pond while playing at Molla Bari in Madhya Sanna under Bakila Union of the same upazila. Samad and Mozahid were taken to nearby upazila health complexes where on-duty doctors declared them dead. Hajiganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge A Mannan stated that the bodies were handed over to the families.
Unicef reports that drowning is one of the leading causes of death among children under five in the country. Approximately 14,000 young lives are lost each year, many during the monsoon when the landscape becomes hazardous. On average, 40 children drown daily, highlighting a critical need for preventive measures to protect these vulnerable lives.