MEHERPUR — Four girls, three from the same family, drowned in a pond in Rajnagar village of Meherpur’s Sadar upazila on Sunday afternoon while picking lotus flowers, officials said.
Local residents recovered three bodies from the Mashuribhaja pond at dusk, and a fire service team recovered the fourth, police said.
The dead were identified as Fatema, 14, and Afia, 10, daughters of Abdus Samad; Aleya, 10, daughter of Saharul Islam, an expatriate worker in Iraq; and Mim, 14, daughter of Ishaq Ali. All four lived in the Mallikpara neighborhood of Rajnagar village. Fatema was an eighth-grade student at Mominpur Girls’ High School. Afia and Aleya were fourth-grade students at Baradi Trinamul Model Academy. Mim was an eighth-grade student at Baradi Amjhupi Girls’ High School.
Local residents said the four had gone together to the pond around noon to pick lotus flowers. When they did not return after a long time, family members went out to look for them in the afternoon. They found the girls’ sandals on the bank and saw one of the bodies floating in the water. After searching, they found two more bodies. The Meherpur Fire Service was alerted, and a team recovered the fourth body. The news triggered widespread mourning across the area.
Shamim Hossain, team leader at the Meherpur Fire Service unit, said the four had drowned in the pond while picking lotuses. “Locals recovered three bodies. We reached the scene after being informed of the missing girl and recovered her body from a pit inside the pond,” Hossain said.
Sub-Inspector Rejaul Islam, in charge of the Baradi police camp, said the four went to Mashuribhaja pond around 1:30 p.m. to pick lotus flowers. “It is believed they fell into a pit while picking flowers and drowned,” he said. Their bodies were recovered by 5:20 p.m.
A team led by Additional Deputy Commissioner Md. Tarikul Islam, including acting Upazila Executive Officer Sumaiya Jahan Jhukar, visited the scene and offered condolences to the bereaved families.
Tarikul Islam said the administration had allocated 10,000 taka per family for the burial of each of the dead.
Mesbah Uddin, officer-in-charge of Meherpur Sadar police station, said none of the four girls knew how to swim. “The pond varies in depth from place to place. They drowned because they could not gauge it,” he said. Locals and fire service personnel later recovered the bodies.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report