An eight-year-old girl has died after falling into a drain amid waterlogging caused by heavy rain in Cumilla city. The accident took place at around 9 p.m. on Sunday (June 21) in the Chhotora Pashchimpara Eidgah area of the city.
According to witnesses and local sources, the girl had been at her maternal grandfather’s house in the city’s Mafizabad Colony, where her maternal uncle’s wedding was taking place. After the event, she was returning home with her mother. Unable to find a rickshaw because of the waterlogging, they set out on foot. As they walked along the footpath, the girl slipped from her mother’s hand and fell into the drain through a gap in a broken slab on the waterlogged road.
People nearby quickly began trying to rescue her. After about 10 to 15 minutes, she was recovered from where she had become stuck a little further along inside the drain, but by then she had died.
Local residents alleged that drain-cleaning and repair work had been under way in the area, with several drain covers left open and many slabs broken. Because of the continuous rain, the waterlogging had submerged the open drains and broken slabs, creating a serious risk for pedestrians, they said.
The drains beside many of the city’s roads have long been left unguarded. With slabs broken or missing in many places, they have effectively become death traps. After the incident, anger and grief spread among local residents, who demanded the quick repair of the risky drains and assured safety measures.
The administrator of Cumilla City Corporation, Yusuf Molla Tipu, said: ‘This incident is extremely heartbreaking, and I express my sorrow over it. All the unprotected slabs in the city will be covered. I will meet the child’s family and try to stand by them as far as I am able.’
The officer-in-charge of Cumilla Kotwali Model police station, Touhidul Anwar, said a police team had gone to the scene and that it was an accident.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report