Sukanth Bikash Dhar, Satkania: Satkania went down to bathe in Sangu river. The fire service recovered the body of a five-and-a-half-year-old child named Sohadi Hasan Sohag, who was missing for about 21 hours. At around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the diving team of Chittagong and Satkania Fire Service recovered the child’s body after trying for two hours at the railway bridge area of Sangu river at the junction of BOC in Kaliaish Union of Upazila. The child Sohag is the son of Monirul Islam of Nabinpara area of BOC intersection. He is a student of the infant class of a local Kinder Garden School. In March last year, another child named Muntaha, the five-year-old daughter of Abdus Sabur of the same area, lost her life while taking a bath in the Sangu river.
Senior Station Officer of Satkania Fire Service and Civil Defense SM Humayun Karnayen said that around six o’clock this morning, a team of 13 divers including five from Chittagong Agrabad and eight from Satkania Fire Service jointly started an operation in the Sangu River to rescue the child. After about two and a quarter hours of operation, the body of the child was recovered from the depth of about 35 to 40 feet of the missing place and brought to the river bank.
Humayun Karnayen also said that after hearing the news that the child was missing in the Sangu River last Monday morning, a team of Satkania Fire Service launched an operation to rescue the child. Due to the presence of tide in the river, we had to gain speed while conducting the operation. Even though we tried, the rescue team had to come out of the river leaving the rescue work incomplete due to the darkness. The body of the child has been handed over to Satkania police station.
Sohag’s father and bus helper Monirul Islam said, last Monday (March 27) around 11 am, my elder son Mehdi Hasan Sabuj went to bathe in the Sangu river with my younger son Sohag. There was another boy living with them. Sohag first went down to take a bath and did not get out of the water. The elder son and the neighbor boy thought that Sohag had bathed and went home, they also came home after bathing. But when he came home without seeing Sohag, he told me and his mother. Later we went to the river bank and saw Sohag’s pants and shoes visible in the mouth of Tama Group’s sand excavated pit, but Sohag was nowhere to be seen. Later, local jailers searched for the boy with a net and could not be found. On getting the news, the fire service people came and tried to rescue but were unsuccessful. My son’s body was recovered from the river this morning (Tuesday) by the fire service diving team. He also said that although my ancestral home is in Chambal Union of Chittagong’s Banskhali Upazila, I have been living in a rented house with my family in Mor area of BOC for about 18 years. I work as supervisor of Shyamoli bus. I have two sons. Among them Sohag is small.
Local UP member Abdul Ghafoor Mukta and Abdul Aziz complained that due to the continuous extraction of sand by Tama Construction Firm, huge holes were created in different places of Sangu River. Some miscreants in the area first threatened us when we tried to block the extraction of sand. Later, no one dared to stop the sand extraction when they threatened to involve the police in a case. Child Sohag also drowned in the deep pit and disappeared. When the child went to take a bath, the Tama Group’s dredger machine was still running 30 feet away. It is also possible that Sohag has sunk in the water due to the pull of the dredger machine. They also said that another five-year-old child named Muntaha died after going down to bathe in the Sangu River in March last year.
Deputy Inspector (SI) of Satkania police station Siddiqur Rahman said that the body has been taken from the fire service. Preliminary investigation at the scene revealed that the child died after drowning. However, if the family applies to take possession of the body, the decision of the higher authorities will be final. However, a wrongful death case has been registered in the police station.
