Photo: Collected
The bodies of two children have been recovered 22 hours after they went missing while going to catch fish in the Turag river at Tongi in Gazipur. A Fire Service diving team recovered their bodies from under the railway bridge on the river on Thursday (1 October) afternoon.
The recovered children are Md Abu Yunus, 10, and Nirob, 9. They lived with their families in a rented house in the Bou Bazar area of Tongi and both were class five students of a Shaheed Smriti High School in Tongi.
Witnesses and locals said Yunus and Nirob went to catch fish in the Turag river with friends on Wednesday afternoon. Four or five friends were fishing together on the south side of the rail bridge adjacent to Bou Bazar, while other children were playing football nearby. When the ball suddenly fell into the river during the game, Yunus was asked to fetch it; he jumped into the river, got stuck in the mud and at one stage was swept under by the current.
On the other hand, when Nirob began to go under the water, Yunus also jumped into the river to save him. Later, both were swept away by the strong current and went missing. On being informed, Tongi Fire Service began a rescue operation.
Md Shahin Alam, senior station officer of Tongi Fire Service, said the body of Abu Yunus was recovered at around 1pm and that of Nirob at around 4pm. He further said the operation had been suspended at around 7:30pm the previous night due to insufficient light and adverse conditions; the diving team resumed rescue work from Thursday morning.
